The New Guy
by Vanguard523
Summary: Joseph Taren is about to start attending Beacon Academy with his best friend from Signal. What awaits him? Only time will tell. P.S. this is my first RWBY fanfic, so please don't hate me. (Rated M for gore and language. NOT SMUT!) RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth and Monty Oum.
1. Arrival

"I still can't believe we're actually going to Beacon." I said to my friend Andrea Adams, who was sitting beside me on the airship that was now headed for Beacon Academy.

She looked me in my dark purple eyes with her light brown ones and smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty incredible." She agreed with a nod. I decided to dress casually for the day and was wearing a black hoodie with a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Andrea was wearing a dark blue tank top and black denim jeans. Along with her brown eyes, she had orange hair down to her shoulder blades that I found out that she had dyed from its original color, which was black.

Andrea and me had known each other ever since our first day of Signal. We were both working out in the weight room and were taking turns using the bench press. My maximum had only been 150 pounds but since I didn't want to be beaten by a girl, she made me push myself past 200 pounds. Ever since then, we've shared a brother-sister bond that was only separated in the fact that we weren't related. That was the same day I promised myself never to underestimate another female again.

I chuckled as I thought of that day. She noticed my laugh and looked at me like I just said that toast was my best friend. "What's up?" She asked me.

"Just remembering how we first met." I replied looking back at her with a smile.

She returned my smile and laughed with me, ruffling my short dark blue hair. "Yeah, I still can't believe you nearly killed yourself because of your stupid pride." Andrea replied with a smirk.

"Hey! You were the only girl in the weight room that day and I didn't want to get shown up!" I yelled in my defence, straitening my hair.

Before she could reply, a hologram of a blond haired and green-eyed woman appeared by the windows of the airship. She said something about everyone being specially selected to join Beacon and I pretty much tuned the rest of it out. I was too focused on the view from the airship. I always loved flying and if I hadn't been accepted into Beacon to become a huntsman, I would've been a pilot.

"Joe!" I heard Andrea call. "You still with me, bud?" She asked.

"Yeah." I replied. "Just admiring the view."

"I can see that." She said suggestively. I gave her a confused look and she gestured back to where I was looking. Beside the window were two girls: a blonde girl wearing black shorts and a tan jacket with a yellow undershirt and a smaller girl next to her wearing what looked to be a glorified red and black dress with a red cape and short black and red hair.

"I meant the view **outside** the airship." I stated.

"Suuuure you were." She replied sarcastically. I just decided to shake my head at her response. _You're a real class act, Andrea._ I thought to myself.

As the airship was on approach to Beacon a blonde guy in a hoodie and jeans puked on the blonde girl's shoes. I knew it was probably impolite to laugh, so I decided to stifle my mirth until we landed.

Andrea and me walked around the campus grounds for a while waiting for the announcement from the headmaster to begin.

"So how are your uncles?" Andrea asked, trying to make small talk.

"Sounds like uncle Pollux is still trying to make new designs for my blades and my uncle Castor is trying to keep him in check." I said with a smile.

"I still don't see why you decided to name your weapons after them." She responded, referring to the dual bladed gauntlets I used during combat.

"Because they raised me for five years when my parents had to go on business in Vacuo and Pollux helped me build and design them while Castor trained me on how to use them properly." I replied.

"Yeah, but why couldn't you have chosen a cooler name like 'Sudden Death' or…" Andrea was too busy looking at me to realize that she had bumped into another student wearing a black leather jacket with nothing underneath and green cargo pants, sending them both sprawling to the ground.

I looked at my best friend and she was on top of a wolf faunus with short dark green hair and light blue eyes, his fangs showing clearly as he smiled.

"Well hello there." He said to Andrea. "I usually wait to date a woman until I get to fourth base, but if you want to…" He was interrupted as Andrea got off him and gave an annoyed grunt in response. "Aw, you're no fun." The wolf-boy said, also getting back on his feet. "In all seriousness though, sorry for bumping into you. Name's Elias." He said extending his hand.

"Andrea." She replied, shaking his hand. "My friend's Joseph." I smiled and waved a hand at Elias at the mention of my name.

Elias' expression turned slightly confused. "So you guys are…" he waited for one of us to finish. I was confused as to what he was implying whereas Andrea apparently wasn't.

"Just friends." She said shaking her head.

"Ok, so you're still single, got it." He said with a smirk. Andrea groaned in aggravation and I felt my smile grow. I was beginning to like Elias. He had a pretty good sense of humor and I didn't have very many faunus friends. That, and it was pretty funny to see him aggravate Andrea.

"Elias!" I heard another female voice yell. "I leave you alone for three freaking seconds and you're already hitting on some other poor girl."

Another girl approached who looked very similar to Elias in terms of hair and eye color, the only difference being that she had different clothes and wolf ears instead of fangs. Her hair was also longer than Elias', just down to her shoulders. She was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a red t-shirt and a pair of red jeans. In my opinion, she looked pretty cute.

"Calm down, sis." Elias said to the other girl. "It's not like she wants to kill me…yet." He added, looking back to Andrea with another smirk.

Elias' sister sighed massaged her temples. "One of these days, a girl you hit on **is** going to kill you." She chastised her brother. She then looked up at Andrea and myself. "Sorry about my twin brother. He can be quite asinine at times. My name is Denara, but you can call me 'Dee' for short." She said with a smile and extending her hand for a handshake from both of us.

"It's alright, Dee. So long as he minds where his hands are, I think we'll get along just fine." Andrea said glaring at Elias, who only smiled back. "I'm Andrea, and this is my friend Joseph and before you ask, we're only friends, not boyfriend-girlfriend."

"Unlike my brother, Andrea, I wouldn't have asked you that. I have much more respect for other people." Denara stated glaring at her brother.

I decided to head off the conversation before poor Elias got butchered by my friend and his sister.

"Alright guys, we should probably head to…" I started before I heard a muffled _BOOM_.

"Head to what?" Elias asked me.

"… I thought I heard an explosion." I said looking around.

"I didn't hear anything." Andrea stated.

"Neither did I." Denara agreed.

 _I must be going crazy._ I thought to myself. I shook my head and continued. "Anyway, I was saying that we should head to the amphitheatre for Professor Ozpin's announcement."

Elias nodded. "Sounds good, let's get going." He led the way as the rest of us followed behind him. As we passed the school courtyard, I noticed a small crater embedded in the concrete. _Guess I'm not going crazy._ I thought with a smile.


	2. Gearing up

Once Professor Ozpin gave a whole speech about what our time at Beacon was going to be like and after Professor Goodwitch told us about the procedure was going to be for tomorrow, myself, Andrea and the wolf-twins as I decided to call them headed down to the ballroom to set down our sleeping bags and change into our sleepwear. The girls went to the locker room whereas Elias and myself changed in the middle of the ballroom.

It turns out that neither of us cared if a girl saw us shirtless, and I was kind of hoping to see one of the girls checking me out, but to no avail. I sighed and put on a pair of cyan shorts and a light blue shirt that served as my pyjamas. Elias already put on a pair of dark green sweatpants when I noticed that his back had a massive tattoo on it.

Judging by the amount of surface area it covered, it must've cost the guy a lot of time and money to have it done. It stretched from just below the back of his neck down to his lower back. The art was of a smoking volcano with what looked to be obsidian rocks littering the mountainside. Before I could examine it further, Elias pulled on an apple green t-shirt.

"Hey, Elias?" I asked the wolf faunus.

"Hmm?"

"What's with the massive tattoo on your back?"

He smiled back at the confused expression I had on my face and laid down on his sleeping bag facing me and motioned for me to do the same. "Your semblance is always with you even if you're not using it at the time, right?" I nodded, still confused and laying on my own sleeping bag. "Since my semblance is being able to control rocks, I figured I might as well have my symbol on my body where it can be with me at all times rather than when I'm just wearing my combat gear." He finished.

"Wait, you can control rocks?" I asked, even more confused than before.

"Sort of. I can make stone surround my body, but like armor, it makes it a whole lot harder for me to move that part of my body." He demonstrated by holding out his right arm which now had a thick layer of rock around it. "So if for instance, I was to punch you with my right hand now, it would hurt a helluva lot more than if I wasn't using my semblance." The rocks then fell away from his arm and left nothing behind.

"Ok, I guess that makes sense. But wouldn't it have just been a whole lot cheaper to have your symbol on all of your clothes?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes at me. "It's a sentimental thing. My semblance is a part of me; it's not just something I put on whenever I want." Elias replied with crossed arms, indicating he wanted to end the conversation.

"So what's Dee's semblance?"

"What's with all the questions?" He asked me.

"Sorry, I didn't realize I was being so invasive." I replied, now lying on my back.

I heard him sigh. "Fine, just this last question then we should probably get some sleep." I then smiled at him and faced him from my position. "Her semblance is being able to control wind. She can hit you with a gust of air that can knock you off your feet." Elias said. "Now I get to ask you a couple since you asked me like, five." I nodded back. _It's only fair._

"What's Andrea's semblance?"

I chuckled to myself quietly as I remembered my friend's personal ability. "She can basically become a shadow. She can't exactly turn herself invisible, but she shape shifts into this weird four-limbed black shadow. In the light, you can easily see her but when it's dark like it is now, it's almost impossible to see her. In fact, she might be listening to our conversation right now." I said looking around for the familiar shadow figure of my friend from Signal, only to see her sleeping in her own bag which was placed next to Denera's.

"Right then, second question: where's your symbol?"

"I just haven't thought of a good one yet or where to put it." I responded.

"Okay, last question. What's your semblance?"

I just shrugged at Elias. "Don't know it yet."

He gave me a look of curiosity, then shook his head. "Okay then, I guess I'll see you in the morning. G'night, Joe."

"Night, Elias." I said just as I noticed Weiss Schnee yelling at the two girls from the airship and a girl in a black nightgown blowing out a candle. I closed my eyes and put my head down on the pillow.

 _This is going to be a fun four years._ I thought with a smile.

The next morning, I got up as quickly as I could and noticed Elias snoring quietly in his own sleeping bag. After changing, I decided to let the guy sleep and went to grab some breakfast. When I got to the cafeteria, I saw Andrea already there, eating her own breakfast with Denara, the two of them dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. The two of them saw me enter as they waved at me. I waved back and got a plate of scrambled eggs with a sausage, a few pieces of bacon and a glass of orange juice.

I approached where the girls were sitting and sat across the table from them.

"Morning, ladies." I greeted them.

"Morning, Joe." Denara replied.

"Sleeping Beauty." Andrea said with a smirk.

"Real funny." I said sarcastically. Looking at what my oldest friend was having for breakfast, I sighed and shot her an exhausted look.

"What?" She replied innocently.

"I thought you said you were going to stop drinking coffee." I said, gesturing to the paper cup with the dark brown drink inside.

"It's decaf." She replied back.

I shook my head. "Doesn't matter, it's still coffee." I said as Elias approached with a tray full of meat with only water to drink, taking a seat beside me.

"Hey guys." He greeted us. "I guess even Beacon has its fair share of bigots and assholes." He said casually.

Assuming he was referring to me, I immediately got offended. "What the fuck did I do?" I asked the wolf-faunus.

He looked at me confused for a second before smiling and shaking his head. "I wasn't referring to you, I was referring to this guy named Cardin I ran into on the way here."

"Let me guess, he hates faunus?" His sister interjected, to which Elias nodded.

Elias' smile faded as he talked. "He made a crack about my fangs and I hit him with a stone fist. He'll live, but his chest will be sore for a damn long time. But at least now he knows not to mess with me." He added, his smile returning.

"Just don't kill anybody." Denara pleaded with her brother. "Even if they are racist against faunus." Elias merely grunted in reply as he dug into his morning meal.

I looked around as I sipped my orange juice and noticed a ginger-haired girl practically bouncing around the room, talking to a guy who looked like he just wanted to enjoy his breakfast in peace.

I put down my drink and tapped the table in front of Andrea to get her attention and gestured at the hyper girl.

"Think you could give her some of that decaf?" I asked. Andrea and the wolf-twins laughed at my joke and continued to eat.

After we finished our meals, we headed down to the locker rooms to ready up for initiation.

I opened locker 635 and put on my gauntlets with rectrable broadsword-length blades and micro impact grenades inside. I picked up the two metal shoulder pauldrons and strapped them on, making sure they were nice and tight along with the lightweight metal shin guards.

After I was ready, I looked over to see what Elias had for weapons and armor, who was assigned to locker 634. It was obvious he favoured endurance and strength over speed as he was clad in full metal leg guards, arm guards, a full chest plate and a half face mask that covered the lower part of his face, leaving his vision unhindered, all of his armor the same shade of green as his hair. On the upper right hand side of his chest plate was a smaller version of the tattoo he had on his back. His weapon appeared to be a large two handed-axe that he was strapped across his back.

"Before you ask, no it doesn't do anything else, it's just an axe." He said, noticing me looking at his equipment. "Can I assume those gauntlets don't just hold blades?"

His voice was slightly muffled from his mask, but I could still hear him clearly. I nodded. "They also hold micro impact grenades that are fired from the barrels on the underside of the gauntlet, whereas the blades expand from the top." I explained, gesturing to the barrels underneath and the slits at the top.

"Kind of an overdone type of weapon isn't it? I've only been at Beacon for a day and I've already seen two other students with gauntlets." He said.

"Yeah well, Castor and Pollux are mine and I think that they're special." I said. _Besides, who gives a shit if other people have gauntlets?_ I thought to myself.

"Castor and Pollux?" He asked, clearly confused by the names of my weapons.

"They're the names of my uncles who helped me design and build them as well as use them in combat. Like you with your tattoo, it's a sentimental thing." I replied with a smirk.

"Fair enough." He said, closing his locker.

The girls were ready before we were and were waiting for us as we exited the locker room. Andrea had her special sword named Dusk and was lightly armoured up with hard leather bracers, shoulder pauldrons and shin guards. She uses this special fighting style that she probably told me about several times but I never bothered to remember where she only unsheathes her sword when she strikes and then sheathes it again when she's done attacking. If I remembered right, just before we left signal, she enhanced Dusk with a special type of dust that allowed for it to be ignited, shock enemies or lower their body temperature, the last part only being effective against other people.

I looked over at Denara who was dressed in much lighter armor than her brother, wearing metal arm guards, metal shin guards and a half-face mask identical to Elias' with a buckler shield on her back, everything also the same color of her hair. Her weapon looked to be a smaller, one handed version of the axe that Elias was using except in the middle of the axe, where the two parts of the blade met was a barrel so I assumed that the axe was also a gun. In her combat gear, I thought she looked even more beautiful.

 _A Valkyrie._ I thought to myself. _A beautiful woman warrior._ I must've spaced because I felt Andrea shaking my shoulder.

"Joe, you awake? You realize that you have to be in order to pass initiation right?" She asked me.

I gently grabbed her hand and pushed it away from me. "Yes, Andrea, I'm very much awake." I said, catching one more quick look at Denara before I turned my gaze to my best friend. "Anyways, we should probably get moving." I said, gesturing in the direction of the cliffs.

I let Elias and Andrea take the lead as I walked behind them and beside Denara.

"So…" I started nervously. "I noticed that your brother's symbol is tattooed on his back. Did you do the same?"

"Why, you want to see me without a shirt?" She said flirtatiously.

Now me being the guy who has literally never had a girl say anything remotely close to that to me in that tone of voice just had no response whatsoever.

"I-I-I-I mean-uh…" She appeared to think my reaction was funny as hell judging by how she was laughing, which I had to admit only made her more attractive.

"It's alright, Joe. I was just messing with you." That put me at ease, but I could definitely feel my cheeks heating up. "And no, I didn't tattoo my symbol on my back. I just decided to put it on my shield." She reached behind her back and tapped the round shield twice. I looked at it and saw a blue gust of wind with several fallen trees behind it on a white background.

"That looks pretty cool." I said honestly. "And by the way, I wouldn't exactly mind seeing you without a shirt." I added with a smirk and a wink that I prayed to Oum she wouldn't find creepy.

"Well you're going to have to wait until after initiation, pretty boy." She said in what almost sounded like a disappointed voice as we approached the cliff side. The four of us took our positions on the far left four platforms as Professors Ozpin and Glynda explained what to do.

I tuned most of it out, but got the gist of it. _Step 1: land without dying. Step 2: find a partner. Step 3: find the temple. Step 4: grab a relic. Step 5: head back to cliff with relic. Kill anything in your way_.


	3. Initiation

Chapter 3

 **(AN: before I start, I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm trying to release these at least once a week but I've only got so much written right now and so I'm trying to pace myself. Anyway, I'll let you read.)**

Right as Ozpin told us to take our positions, I saw the guy who puked on the airship raise his hand for a question. Before I could hear him ask it though, I was already in the air.

 _So this is what flying feels like without an airship._ I thought.

Thankfully, my uncle Pollux took me skydiving one time and I remembered how to steer yourself. I aimed myself towards a patch of grass with trees on either side and extended my blades, scraping the trees and slowing myself down as I hit the ground. I was still going pretty fast when I hit the ground and landed with an audible thud.

"Thank Oum for Aura." I said with a pained groan as I got up. "Okay, now to find a partner." And just as I looked up, I saw **the** Pyrrha Nikos heading running towards the western side of the forest. _Holy crap, Holy crap, HOLY CRAP!_ I went into a fan frenzy in my head. _Pyrrha Nikos as my partner? How much better could the day get?_ I ran behind her trying to keep pace with her but she was pretty damn fast. She suddenly made a sharp right turn and I just ended up slamming into a tree and fell backwards. _Okay, so maybe Pyrrha as a partner isn't such a good idea_. I thought as I got up again. I just started walking towards where the temple was supposed to be and hoped that I'd find a partner along the way. As I walked, I heard somebody clear their throat behind me.

So I turn around and who do I find but my old friend from Signal leaning against the base of a tree with a long scarred line reaching from the top of the tree to the trunk.

"Hey Andrea. Can I assume you used Dusk as your landing strategy?" I asked gesturing to the long line in the tree.

"Yup. Just hit it like a bullet and pretty much used my weight to get down." She replied.

"Well, let's get going. We should probably get to the temple quickly." She nodded at me and we headed northwards. Neither of us spoke, our ears too focused on listening out for grimm. We got to a small clearing and I held up my hand in a fist to stop.

"What is it?" Andrea asked me in a whisper.

"We've got grimm all around us, I know it. I just don't know how many or what…" I was about to say the word "type" when about half a dozen ursai emerged from the tree line. I extended the blades from my gauntlets and lunged towards the belly of one that was on its hind legs. After a few stabs, it fell over dead and began to disintegrate. I looked back to see how Andrea was doing and she was almost impossible to see due to how fast she was moving with Dusk burning red in her hand, igniting the ursa she was slashing at. She held the sheath with her left and the sword itself with her right, slashing upwards, downwards and diagonally with lightning speed.

"Yeah, she's fine." I said to myself as I turned to face the other three bear-like grimm near me. I retracted the blades and let loose a flurry of grenades from Castor and Pollux, engulfing one of the grimm in flames and explosions. I was satisfied it was dead when both its front paws flew off and it collapsed.

But like an idiot, I forgot to look behind me and one of the ursai hit me with the force of a truck, sending me flying towards the trees and skidding across the ground. When I picked myself up for the third time that day, four ursai were standing side by side.

"Alright assholes, one at a time!" I yelled at them. Then as if it actually heard me, one of them charged at me by itself and I dodged out of the way. As I extended my blades once more, I heard a blood-curdling scream that could only belong to Andrea. Adrenaline coursed through my body as I jumped on the back of the creature and stabbed multiple holes in between the white plates that served as armor. Jumping off the bleeding one, I turned to face the other three who all charged at the same time. I decided to just let the grenades do the work as I retracted the blades and let loose a torrent of yellow flame and explosions. I managed to immobilize two of them as they charged but one of them, a major, just kept coming.

Letting the effects of adrenaline take over, I got the blades out and I let out a roar as I slid underneath the charging bear-grimm, slicing open its stomach as we moved against each other. I didn't even bother to look back as I moved to where Andrea was now on the ground bleeding from a large gash in her arm with two ursai approaching her.

"Oh no you don't." I said to myself as I sprinted towards the side of one ursa.

Delving my blades deep into its front left paw, I jumped away and focused on the second one, hoping to end the skirmish and get Andrea to help as soon as possible. The other stood on its hind legs and was about to roar when I retracted one blade and launched three grenades at it, sending it stumbling backwards. I rushed forward and used the other blade to slash at its now unprotected belly and front paws. Jumping away from that one, I turned back to the previously wounded one, which only advanced on Andrea's prone figure further. In a fit of rage, I sprinted towards it and used both blades to sever its unwounded arm, leaving the ursa leaning on a weakened paw. Once again, adrenaline coursed through me as I jumped into the air high enough for me to dig my blades into its skull, cracking clean through the white plate that guarded a fleshy head.

Satisfied that everything was ok and the grimm were dead, I looked back at Andrea and knelt down to see her face down on the ground, bleeding from her left arm and as I turned her over, also the stomach where another deep gash had spawned.

"Andrea, Andrea! Please, don't do this to me, please wake up!" I screamed at her unconscious figure. I took her pulse and found nothing. _This can't be happening._ I thought to myself, tears now pouring down my face. I attempted CPR for what seemed like an hour but still got nothing. Not a breath, not a pulse, nothing.

My best friend since starting Signal was dead on the first day of initiation at Beacon.

 _She must've been waiting at that tree to recover her aura._ I thought to myself. _That's the only explanation. Then I had to come along and interrupt her rest. I'm the one responsible. This is my fault._ I sat beside her corpse for about half an hour before I found the strength to get up, the adrenaline now replaced with grief. Looking down at Andrea, I noticed Dusk still in its sheath just beside her left hand. I gingerly picked it up with both hands, closed my eyes and swore an oath.

"Andrea, on my word as a huntsman-in-training and a friend, I swear that I **will** protect others from the same horrible fate you received." I opened my eyes bid Andrea one final silent farewell before leaving.

The next few minutes were the longest of my life until I finally got to the forest temple. It was close to nightfall as I approached a stand with a white bishop piece on it, the only one remaining. With Dusk still in my grasp, I picked up the relic with my free hand and was about to head back when I saw a lone figure sprinting towards me. I immediately assumed the worst and took a stance to get ready to fight until I recognized the face as it got closer.

It was Denara by herself. She must've recognized me as she didn't say anything as she ran up to me and threw her arms around me. It took me a few seconds to get past my own grief before I realized she was crying. Her shield was stained with the familiar black blood of grimm as was her axe at her waist. I hugged her back and gently began caressing her hair. I didn't care whether she thought it was weird or not. It just felt nice to be around another female I knew.

"Dee, what's wrong?" I asked calmly after a solid minute of her crying.

"It-it's Elias." She cried out in between choking sobs.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked seriously, remembering my oath I recently swore.

"He's dead, Joe!" She practically screamed over my shoulder. "We were fighting some beowolves on our way here and we were ambushed by a king taijitu. He took care of the beowolves and told me to run. But I didn't and we both tried taking on the taijitu, but he was so worried about me when I got knocked away that he exhausted the rest of his aura taking hits that were meant for me and it just bit right through his armor and killed him outright!" Her crying escalated at the retelling of her brother's demise.

"So did you outrun the taijitu?" I asked, my tone still serious.

"Yes, there's no way it could've followed me." She said, pulling herself out of the embrace. She looked around, as if she was expecting someone to be there. "Where's Andrea?"

I merely let go of her shoulders and pulled out Dusk from the makeshift holster at my waist.

"Mauled by ursai. She told me back in Signal that this sword was her pride and joy, that even after she passed, she wanted it to serve a purpose." I stated.

Denara looked at me with sympathetic eyes and pulled me in for another hug. In any other setting, it would've been romantic but with the deaths of a student weighing on both our shoulders, any room for romance was flooded by grief and sorrow. She pulled back from the embrace and looked me in the eyes as I put Dusk back in the holster I made for it.

"You should grab a relic. That way we can head back to the cliffs and be assessed by the professors." I looked back in her eyes. She nodded and grabbed the other white bishop piece.

We walked back towards the cliffs in relative silence, neither of us in the mood for talking.

"How are you doing on aura?" I asked.

She looked at her scroll resting on her shield arm. "Not good. Maybe ten percent left."

I felt the presence of more grimm nearby and stopped in my tracks and Denara did the same.

As if from nowhere, five beowolves appeared in front of us and one jumped on Denara from behind us. It only took quick two slashes of its claws to exhaust her aura and leave multiple deep scratch marks on the back of her skull. The second I saw the beowolf jump on Denara I extended the blades from my gauntlets and stabbed the grimm multiple times, killing it immediately, but the damage was already done. I retracted the blade from my left gauntlet and fired four grenades at the group of five beowolves in front of me, which were now charging. Only one made it out alive and its remaining time of its life was extremely short as the blade from my right gauntlet slashed across its left front paw and it howled it pain. After stabbing it twice in the chest, I fired another grenade into one of the small holes I made and the beast's back exploded outwards. I looked back to see Denara face down on the ground just like Andrea had been, bleeding profusely from the back of her head.

Approaching her, I noticed that she was also unconscious and I felt my knees begin to buckle. _No. Not again. Not twice in the same day._ I prayed to Oum that she was still alive. I turned her over on her back and felt for a pulse. I kept two fingers to her wrist for a solid minute before I realized that in the time that I was fighting the beowolves, Denara had bled out. I sighed and removed my finger from her wrist, sitting down beside her body as I did so. _Three friends lost in the same day. Great fucking start._ I thought. _First it's Andrea, then Elias and now Denara._ I decided to stop wallowing in my grief and headed back to the cliffs with the white bishop piece in my right hand and Dusk in my left.


	4. A New Beginning

(AN: I just wanted to let everyone reading my story know that I have tagged this story as romance for a reason, believe me. I just have a lot of leading up to do.)

I got back to Beacon and handed the white bishop piece to Professor Goodwitch, who merely nodded at me. I waited in line behind four girls who were talking about something that I really didn't care about and moved forward as the teams were assigned.

"Russell Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team Cardinal. Led by…Cardin Winchester." Professor Ozpin's voice rang out across the amphitheater. He went on to about teams Juniper and Ruby and then, when it was my turn to get called up, he looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

"Joseph Taren. You are the only one to come back alive with the white bishop piece." It took every fiber of my being to not break down crying in front of the entire first year student population at that statement. "You will be assigned to another team tomorrow morning, in my office."

I nodded to him and left the stage. As I walked past a few other first years, I saw them look at me with more sympathy. I stopped in front of the leader of team Juniper who looked at me with more shock than sympathy.

"What?" I growled at him. "You can't believe the fact that three other people died? Well guess what pal? That's the real world! People die in the real-fucking world!" I stormed past him back towards the ballroom to get some rest, not bothering to change as I cried myself to sleep.

The next morning I could've cared less whether someone killed me in my sleep. I only slept for about two hours last night and after I used the restroom and looked in the mirror, I noticed my eyes were bloodshot from the lack of sleep. It was only six in the morning but I didn't really care if the headmaster was awake or not.

Without grabbing breakfast, I headed for Ozpin's office, my heart more empty than my stomach. I pressed the button to go to the top floor and I felt the elevator slowly ascending. The elevator hit the top floor and stopped.

"Come in." I heard Ozpin's voice on the other side. I pressed the elevator button door that read "open" and walked into his office. He sat behind a big desk with gears inside it with his cane beside his chair and a coffee cup sitting in front of him.

"Please. Sit." He said gesturing to the chair that was in front of the large desk.

"Who's team am I on?" I asked, taking my seat in the chair and wanting to get to the point.

"First off Mr. Taren, let me express my most sincere apologies over the loss of your friends. I know first-hand what it's like to lose someone close to your heart and I know what you're going through." He said with a great deal of what I could tell was actual sympathy.

"So you know that I probably don't feel like talking right now, Professor Ozpin." I deadpanned.

"Yes. I do. Which is why I'll get straight to the point. What is your opinion of working alongside team RWBY?" He asked me.

"While I have nothing against working alongside a team of females sir, I would prefer not to."

He nodded at my answer and moved on. "What about team JNPR?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea considering how I yelled at their team leader my fit of rage last night, professor." I replied.

"I thought not. Very well then, your third and final option is team CRDL." He looked at me dead in the eye.

I thought for a minute. _A team full of guys, so I could be myself around them. They didn't seem to give a shit about who got in their way, so they must be determined and headstrong…_ I thought about it until I remembered the name of their team leader.

"Sir, isn't the leader of that team Cardin Winchester?" Ozpin nodded at me and I took a deep breath. _There is no way in hell that I'm being on the same team as the shitbag who made fun of Elias before he died._ "Then I'm afraid that I can't be on their team either, sir."

Ozpin maintained his gaze on my eyes as he spoke. "Mr. Taren, you must choose a team, otherwise I will have to expel you from this academy and I assure you that I think that it would be a very big mistake on both our parts. Do you have a second preferred option?" He asked me.

"Team JNPR." I said. "Although I doubt that they would forgive my outburst last night."

"We don't know that until it happens. Very well then, I will inform them that they will soon be receiving a fifth teammate." He said, taking out his scroll and typing in a message to whom I could only assume was all of team JNPR. "Pack your things and move them into this dorm." He sent me a message that described where their dorm room was.

I nodded and left, hitting the elevator button for the ground floor as I leaned up against the back of the car. _That blonde kid is going to lose his shit when he realizes I'm on the same team as him._ I thought as the elevator stopped on the ground floor.

Once I was back in the ballroom, I packed up my sleeping bag and put Andrea's sword as well as my other clothes in my duffle bag and headed towards team Juniper's dorm room.

I knocked on the door. _This is not going to go well_.

A black haired guy with a pink stripe in his hair and magenta eyes opened the door dressed in the Beacon academy uniform opened up the door. "You must be our new teammate." He said quietly. I just nodded at him. He turned around and motioned for me to follow him into the dorm. There were four beds, one for each of the original team members. "This is an unusual case and we don't have a fifth bed so…" he was probably going to go on and offer me his bed, but I cut him off.

"It's alright, I'll take the floor. I'll just lay my sleeping bag down in the kitchen area. I'm an early riser anyways so I'll probably be up before any of you." I said to him. He simply nodded back at me and I placed my duffle bag down next to the door.

"Professor Ozpin told us you would be joining us and he sent us a uniform for you." The black haired guy said, gesturing to a Beacon uniform on a clothes hanger on the inside handle of the door.

"Ren, you better be making me my pancakes." I heard a female voice say with a yawn.

"Nora, we have classes today so I don't think that I'll have time. You can go get some down in the cafeteria though." The guy known as Ren said, turning to face the ginger-haired girl I recognized from the cafeteria.

"But the cooks there don't make them nearly as good as yo…" She stopped mid-sentence when she saw me standing in the middle of the room.

 _Might as well make a good first impression._ I thought. Mustering the best smile I could in my current state, I decided to introduce myself. "Hi. My name's…"

She cut me off. "I don't really care what your name is!" She exploded at me, suddenly right in front of my face. "You had no right to yell at poor Jaune like that!" She said, gesturing to the blonde guy who was in his bed, beginning to wake up.

"Well guess what, princess!?" I yelled back. "Losing three friends in the same day generally tends to make me insanely pissed off, so pardon me all to hell for not thinking clearly after seeing two friends brutally mauled by grimm and a third being chomped on by a king taijitu!"

I looked over to see the blonde guy getting out of bed dressed in a rabbit onesie. "Nora, it's alright." He said calmly to the ginger girl. "I think I would've reacted the same way in his position." His attitude towards me took me off guard. I thought for sure that he would've joined in at yelling at me.

"But Jauney!" She started.

"Nora, just let it go." He said without a hint of anger or frustration in his voice. Nora nodded at him and she took her uniform into the bathroom, presumably to shower and change. The leader of Juniper turned his gaze to me and extended his hand to me. "Sorry about her. From what Ren told me, she can be a little hyper at times." He said with a chuckle. "Anyway, the name's Jaune Arc."

"Joseph Taren." I replied, shaking his hand.

"Good to meet you. The ninja who you've already met is Ren." He stated, placing a hand on the other guy's shoulder, who then took a bow.

" **Lie** Ren, actually. But you can just call me Ren, everyone else does." He said politely.

"And our other team member is Pyrrha." He said, gesturing to the famous mistrilian champion who was just now awakening from her slumber wearing a red and gold nightgown. While I had to admit she looked nice, she still wasn't nearly as beautiful as Denara in my opinion.

I had to take a deep breath in order to prevent the tears from flowing at the thought of the amazingly gorgeous female wolf-faunus.

"Yes, I've heard of her." I said.

"Hello. You must be our new teammate." She said politely with a wave and a smile from behind Jaune.

"And you are Pyrrha Nikos. I enjoyed watching your fights." I said, my fan-like attitude had dissipated since the events of yesterday. I noticed that her smile faded slightly at my remark, but I pushed it out of my mind. "I already told Ren that it's perfectly fine with me if I slept on the kitchen floor. So long as I have my sleeping bag, I'll be fine." I said to Jaune.

"You can take my bed if you…"

"Jaune, I said I'd be fine." I cut him off.

He then sighed resignedly and looked at my attire that I still wore from initiation day. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable without your weapons and armor on?" He asked me.

I looked at my equipment. "I think I'll ditch the armor but I'm keeping Castor and Pollux with me." I declared. Jaune and Ren both exchanged slightly worried looks.

"Joseph…" Ren started.

"Just call me Joe if you want." I interjected.

"Joe." He began again. "Wearing your weapons in full view of everyone during classes could cause some worry amongst the student population."

"Sorry Ren, but I don't feel safe without them after seeing two of my friends die on me. I also regret not being able to help Elias when he was in trouble." I replied. "If the teachers tell me to take them off, I will but until then, I'm keeping them on." As I finished my sentence, Nora emerged from the bathroom wearing her uniform. I quickly grabbed mine off the hanger on the dorm room door handle and went into the bathroom before anyone could say anything else.

I slammed the door behind me and after stripping; I entered the shower, letting the hot water work its magic. I came out about five minutes after wearing my uniform with Castor and Pollux over top of the Academy issued clothes.

"Shower's anyone's that wants it." I said to my teammates who were either trying to catch a little more sleep before the day began or reading. The next one to use the shower was Pyrrha, followed by Ren and lastly, Jaune.

While Jaune was in the shower, I decided to try talking with Ren.

"Ren?"

"Yes, Joe?" He responded, not taking his eyes off the book he was reading.

"How long have you and Nora been together?"

That was one topic that I learned was a trigger for sending him into a stuttering frenzy.

"We-uh-uh…"

"We're not actually together-together." Nora responded slightly nervously in his stead, still glaring angrily at me.

"Okay, got it." I said, dropping the subject.

After recovering his composure, Ren turned to me. "Why did you name your gauntlets Castor and Pollux?"

"They're the names of my uncles who helped me design, build and use them."

"A sign of sentiment." He observed. "It's nice to know that you have a good sense of decency." He responded.

Jaune emerged from the shower and tightened the necktie on his uniform. It looked like he was about to say something when we heard the words: "It's 8:55, you dunce!" from across the hall. Jaune opened the door and I saw Weiss Schnee running down the hall.

"T-to class!" I heard another voice say. Then, the two girls from the airship ran down the hall followed by the girl in black I saw in the ballroom on initiation night.

"Class?" Jaune said to himself. "We're going to be late!" We all tried exiting the dorm at the same time, only to end up on as a heap on the hall floor.

After a sprint across the courtyard, we made our way to Professor Port's grimm anatomy class, where he droned on about his exploits as a young man and the Schnee heiress fought a boarbatusk, only succeeding thanks to the girl in red's advice.

"Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune asked.

"Probably just pissed off at the fact that she needed someone else's help to win a fight." I replied, picking up my books. "Come on, we should head off to Doctor Oobleck's history class."

We all followed Pyrrha, as she apparently already knew the school like the back of her hand.

Thankfully in his class, the Doctor actually taught us lessons about history; even he **was** talking a mile a minute.

Next class was combat class with Professor Goodwitch, but since it was only the first day, we didn't get to do any sparring.

After the day's classes, my new teammates hung back to play meet-and-greet with the other first-years, but I just headed back to the dorm to try and catch up on some sleep until dinnertime.

As I lay in my sleeping bag, my thoughts kept returning to my fallen friends and what life would be like at Beacon if I had actually been able to save them.

I breathed deeply. _These next four years are going to be hell._


	5. Hatred

The next couple weeks went by relatively smoothly, although I didn't get a chance to do any sparring in Goodwitch's class and I really needed to work off some steam and hitting the gym just didn't do it for me.

Relatively being the operative word. At least four times a week I'd wake up sick and in sweats from nightmares about seeing the mangled bodies of Andrea and the wolf-twins. Thankfully, nobody else from team JNPR noticed me waking up due to the fact that their view of me was obstructed from my position on the kitchen floor.

Jaune was nice enough to introduce me to all of team RWBY and they all accepted me as one of their friends, although Weiss seemed more than a little apprehensive about me.

We were all eating breakfast one day and everything was business as usual with Nora telling everyone about the dream she's been having for a while now and Ren correcting her along the way.

"Jaune?" I heard Ruby call our team leader's name.

"Hmm?" He responded looking up from his meal.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's just that you seem a little… not okay." The little reaper stated.

"I agree, you've been a little distant as of late." I added.

"Guys, I'm fine. Really! See?" He said with an obvious fake smile and a thumbs up.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first day of school." Pyrrha said.

It felt like a flaming ball of rage was going burst from my chest when I heard Cardin's name.

"And you didn't bother to ask one of us for help?" I interjected, confused and angry.

"Joe's right Jaune, if you need help, you can just ask." His partner added.

"Ooh!" Nora piped up. "We'll break his legs!" She said enthusiastically.

"What's the point in that? A few weeks later, he'll have use of them again. Why not just sever them altogether? Make him a paraplegic?" I asked. Everyone looked at me, horrified. "What? I just happen to really not like the guy." I said, returning to my breakfast.

"Guys it's fine. Besides, it's not like he's just a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone." Jaune said, his gaze shifting towards team CRDL mocking a rabbit faunus. Anger quickly formed in my chest again at the sight, but I kept it under control for the moment.

Jaune then picked up his tray and left the cafeteria.

"So that guy's been bullying Jaune straight from day one?" I asked Pyrrha, pointing a thumb at Cardin.

She looked down at her tray. "Unfortunately, yes. And Jaune hasn't brought it up to any of the professors."

The champion was about to continue when I heard a heart breaking: "Ow, that hurts!" I looked back at team CRDL to see Cardin pulling on her ears. My anger got the better of me as I stood up and stormed over to them.

"HEY ASSHOLE!" I yelled at him. "How about you let the lady go and you and me get some sparring practice?" The big guy let go of her ears and she walked away quickly, trying to hide the tears that I could see were starting to form in her eyes.

"Hah!" He laughed in my face as he stood up. He may have been a full head taller than me but I really didn't care, as intimidating as he looked in all that armor. "And who the hell are you? An animal lover?" He said mockingly.

"Of course a stupid sack of shit like you wouldn't know the difference between a faunus and an animal." I said with my arms crossed and a smirk.

He was angry now and held an expression that said so on his face, making me smile. "Fine, let's settle this in the arena." He said angrily, heading down to Goodwitch's class, with myself right beside him and his lackeys in tow. "I never did get your name, bunny lover."

 _Fuckin' got him!_ I thought sarcastically. "Joseph Taren."

After the both of us were geared up, a small audience had gathered in the stands including my teammates, team RWBY and the rest of team CRDL.

We stood across from each other and I cracked my neck using my hands rather than just tilting it. I don't know if it intimidated him or not, but it couldn't hurt.

"Say when, Ruby." I said to the little reaper as I extended both my blades.

"3…2…. 1…GO!" The red reaper yelled out.

I charged at Cardin in a horizontal spin, making him block both my blades with his mace. He countered by shoulder charging me in the chest, which knocked me to the ground. Using my hands to push myself, I jumped up off the ground and retracted the right blade, letting loose a barrage of grenades at Cardin. It must've hurt him a little because he stumbled backwards and I stabbed at his exposed stomach where the chest plate didn't protect him. His aura took a lot of the hit, but it was a high-velocity stab and it must've done some damage. Cardin went back on the offensive and took a few swings of his mace at me, but they were fairly slow and I managed to dodge most of them except for two that hit both sides of my rib cage. I backed up from him and noticed that we were both breathing hard.

 _Hopefully he's as tired as I am._ I thought as I rushed him with both blades extended.

He swung to get me to back up and I grabbed his wrist to prevent him from swinging again and I slashed at his other arm with my free blade, cutting right through his aura.

To be honest, the next five seconds were a blank memory. I think I stabbed Cardin in the shoulder as Goodwitch entered her classroom, she yelled something at the both of us and the next thing I knew, I was slumped against the arena wall with both my blades retracted.

When I looked up, Cardin was holding his left shoulder with his right hand, screaming in pain and bleeding profusely. Goodwitch called for the medics and walked over to me.

"MR. TAREN!" What were you thinking, staging an unauthorized fight without supervision!? you will spend the next month in detention after classes being educated on the rules of sparring here at Beacon." She yelled angrily at me. Despite her chastising, I was smiling. Cardin got what was coming to him.

Goodwitch yelled for everyone to get out of her class and we complied. When I exited the left side of the arena, headed for the school's medical center, everyone from teams RWBY and JNPR intercepted me.

Weiss was the first to speak up, angrily of course. "What were you thinking!? You could've killed him!"

I turned to the heiress. "Weiss, if I wanted him dead, he would be." I deadpanned.

She crossed her arms and gave a frustrated grunt.

"Still, no one has exhibited that much hatred for Cardin. At least not in public." Blake declared.

"He mocked one of my friends because he was a faunus on the same day he died. So I'm sorry if I didn't exactly go easy on him, Blake." I replied sarcastically.

"Wait, you mean one of three students who died on initiation day?" Yang asked.

"Yes." I said through clenched teeth. "And you have **no right** to bring them up."

"And why is that, Joe?" She asked in an almost annoying voice. "It's like you said, people die in the real world."

"Yes, but the three who died where my friends. I met two of them when I got to beacon and the other was my best friend since I started at Signal." I glared angrily at the blonde brawler. "So you **will not** bring them up again, Yang." I said, extending both my blades in an attempt to make my intentions known, Cardin's blood still dripping from my right blade. She and everyone else backed up as I pushed past them to get to the infirmary.

I waited outside where I saw the doctors take Cardin until one of them walked out.

"Excuse me?" I asked a female doctor with long brown hair and blue eyes. "Is it alright if I go in and apologize? I feel really bad for what I did." I said with downcast eyes, lying through my teeth.

Fortunately, she bought it and wordlessly opened the door for me. I walked over to the bed where Cardin was lying, now shirtless and with a large bandage over his left shoulder.

"Hello, bigot." I greeted him. His eyes went wide as he saw me and he was about to call for the doctor, but I covered his mouth with my hand before he could scream. "If I even see you walking next to another faunus ever again, I'll come back to finish the job." I deadpanned. "And I promise you I'll make it nice and slow, the way a good death should be." I gave him a smile as I uncovered his mouth and left the infirmary.

It was a Saturday which usually meant that Pyrrha would be studying, Ren would probably be either cleaning his Stormflowers or meditating, Nora would be hanging around Ren, trying to convince him to make pancakes and I think Jaune would either catch up on some rest or reading X-Ray and Vav comics.

I was headed back to the dorm when I was stopped by a girl clad in black and brown, wearing a beret, dark sunglasses with a full belt of minigun rounds draped across her left shoulder. She had a neutral expression on her face; not happy or angry.

"Hello?" I said, expecting a name from her.

"You're the one who sliced a hole in Cardin's shoulder?" She asked, the expression on her face staying the same.

 _Wow, news travels fast around here._ "I am." I stated cautiously.

"Team coffee sends their thanks." With that, she walked off without another word.

 _That was weird. Who the hell is team coffee?_ I wondered as I grabbed my books to go study in the library with Pyrrha.

After Pyrrha helped me with Oobleck's lessons on the Great War, I went back to our dorm where I found Jaune sewing a hole in his hoodie, much to my surprise.

"Hey, Jaune." I greeted him.

"Hey, Joe." He replied back, not looking up from his needlework.

I placed my books on the desk that Ren had graciously given me a few days before, explaining that Nora almost never used hers and the two didn't mind sharing.

My gaze shifted over to Dusk whose hilt was peaking out of my duffle bag that also served as my dresser and closet.

A wave of grief washed over me again as I looked at the weapon. _She died and it's my fault. Worse yet, I don't even have anything to remember the twins by._ I thought.

"Jaune?" I called as I got an idea.

"What's up?" He called back.

"How well do you know how to sew?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not exactly the worst at it. My mom and sisters taught me how to make my own clothes as well as stitch up fabric. Why?" He asked me, looking up from his needlework.

"It's…it's because I was wondering if you could make something personal for me. I'll reimburse you for any fabric that you may have to buy as well as pay you for your time." I said, leaning up against the wall.

"Okay, yeah I guess I could do it when I have the time. Just tell me what it is."

We spent the next two hours going over the specific details about the project I wanted him to make for me before I went to sleep.

I ran as fast as I could towards the screams that echoed throughout the Emerald Forest.

"ANDREA! ANDREA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" I yelled out, only to hear more pained screams. Picking up my pace, I ran into an open clearing where I saw my best friend in the jaws of an ursa, her entire body being bifurcated after the beast's massive teeth clamped down. Enraged, I felt myself grow to be equal height of the ursa and charged forward, my left blade plunging deep into it's stomach as I slowly raised the bear-grimm off the ground and decapitated it with a single slice of my right blade.

I retracted the left blade and let the corpse drop to the ground with a loud thud. I turned around to see the lower and upper half of Andrea's body about three feet from each other. I walked over to her upper half and to my horror, her eyes opened and she started speaking to me. Most of the words were echoed whispers and I could barely hear them but I managed to make out one word: semblance.

Her voice became even clearer as her right arm shot up and started shaking my shoulder.

"Joe! JOE!"

I shot out up in my sleeping bag on the kitchen floor and ended up accidentally head butting my team leader. We both recoiled from the unexpected pain and took a few minutes to recover.

I looked around. It was still dark and everyone aside from Jaune and myself was still asleep. _I'm in my dorm room. It was just another nightmare._ I thought as Jaune sat up from his position on the floor.

"Sorry about that, Jaune. I didn't mean to hit you." I whispered.

He groaned in pain quietly. "It's alright." He whispered back. "I got up to use the bathroom and noticed that you were writhing quite a bit in your sleep. Was it a nightmare?"

I only nodded. Even though he was my friend and I trusted him with my life, I really didn't want to go into details.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Just about one in the morning. Try and get some sleep, okay?"

"Thanks, Jaune. I will." I replied with a fake smile. He smiled back and went to bed.

 _But I can't._ _Every single time I've had one of these nightmares and tried to go back to sleep, I've only succeeded in staying awake for the rest of the night._ I thought with a sigh.

 _Tomorrow is going to suck._


	6. Reprimanded

Sure enough, I didn't get a single minute's sleep after the nightmare last night and woke up exhausted, with bags under my eyes and pissed off. The only thing that eased my anger was Ren's pancakes that he made up for us in our dorm. I moved my sleeping bag out of the way so that he could work properly. Everyone sat on their own beds eating their breakfast while Ren was still making another batch and I was sitting at my/Ren's desk.

"It's a good thing you're such a good cook, Ren. Otherwise I might've put another hole in Cardin's shoulder." I said with a light laugh.

Pyrrha gave me a cautious look. "You have quite the morbid sense of humor, Joseph." She stated with her voice bordering on menacing as she dug into her own plate of the fluffy food.

"Yeah, sorry about that. It's just that I grew up in a place where death wasn't uncommon and I've failed to realize that you guys aren't the people I used to hang around with." I said sheepishly.

Jaune must've seen my saddened expression and changed the topic.

"So anyways, what are you guys planning on doing today?" He asked everyone.

"Me and Renny are going to head down to the firing range because I wanna test out my new high-explosive grenades!" Nora said happily.

"I'm really there to make sure that she doesn't destroy anything other than the targets." The stoic said with a hint of humor.

"But that's the only way it's fun!" The Grenadier protested.

Pyrrha let loose a laugh at our bubbly teammate, her earlier seriousness towards me forgotten. "I'm going to get some training in and have some maintenance done on my weapon. I think that Milo is starting to slow whenever it shifts, but I'm not too sure." Our resident Champion said.

"Alright, how about you, Joe?" Jaune asked me.

"I think I'm just going to try and get some sleep. I didn't exactly sleep very well last night." I explained to everyone else as Jaune shot me an understanding nod..

Ren looked up from the next batch of pancakes he was making. "If you'd like, I could teach you some relaxation methods to help you sleep." He offered.

"Thanks, but I think I'll be fine." _I hope._ "How about you, Jaune?" I asked. "Do you think you'll be able to find time today to work on that project I asked you to do for me?"

"Wait, what project?" Nora asked. _Ever the curious one._ I thought.

"I'll tell you later, Nora." She nodded at me and went back to devouring her pancakes.

"I uh…" Jaune held a saddened expression on his face. Like a little kid who's parents just told him that his pet goldfish died.

He plastered another fake smile on his face as he continued. "I've just got to run into Vale to grab a few things." He said.

"Okay then, just make sure you take a few of those motion sickness pills I gave you." Pyrrha said to her partner.

"Yeah, thanks for those by the way. They seem to help quite a bit." Jaune thanked the champion.

I was about to say something along the lines of Pyrrha going with Jaune to Vale but an announcement over the loudspeakers from Professor Goodwitch interrupted me.

"Joseph Taren, please report to Professor Ozpin's office."

I let out a sigh. _In the headmaster's office twice since I've been at Beacon and it hasn't even been two months yet._ I quickly ate the rest of my pancakes and left my plate in the sink.

"Leave the dishes for me. Great pancakes as always, Ren!" I called out as I headed into the bathroom to shower and change from my sleepwear into my casual clothes with Castor and Pollux clamped onto my forearms.

I took a quick shower and headed over to the top floor of the massive tower that served as the headmaster's office.

Once again, the elevator stopped at the top and Ozpin called for me to come in. I hit the button that said 'open' and walked in.

The headmaster sat behind his desk with his ever-present cane and coffee mug. _I wonder if that actually is coffee he's drinking._ I thought.

"You wanted to see me, Professor?" I asked.

"Yes Mr. Taren. I also wanted to talk to you about two things, but first, please take a seat." He gestured to the empty chair in front of his desk, which I sat in.

"First of all, I would like to address the issue of staging an unsupervised sparring session on Beacon grounds."

 _Fucking great. Here comes the expulsion._ I thought. "What about it, sir?" I asked with a sigh, letting to my eyes fall down to the gears within his desk.

"Miss Goodwitch informed me that she walked in on Cardin Winchester and yourself locked in combat and she stated that you delved one of your blades into his shoulder **after** his aura was depleted." He paused and interlaced his fingers, his gaze never leaving my eyes. "Is this true?"

I nodded.

"However, I have heard claims from several students that Mr. Winchester quote: 'had it coming'. Can you please clarify these statements for me?"

I looked up from his desk and stared him dead in the eyes; rage returning as I remembered what sparked the fight.

"Headmaster, before I said to Cardin that we should fight in the arena, he was mocking a rabbit faunus in the cafeteria and pulling on her ears."

"So you took it upon yourself to sow what you thought was justice?" Ozpin stated.

"Yes sir, and I don't regret my actions. I'll go pack my things." I said, turning the chair around and starting to get up.

"And just why are going to do that?" He asked me. I spun the chair back around and clasped my hands together on his desk.

"Because you think that what I did was too rash and undeserved and you're expelling me?" I asked rhetorically.

"Mr. Taren, while I do not support the actions of Mr. Winchester in any way, I believe that you merely did what you thought was right." He pulled out his scroll from his pocket. "Ms. Goodwitch gave you one month's detention, correct?" He asked me. I nodded back. "How does two weeks sound?"

My eyes were probably the size of baseballs right now. _Ozpin's actually going to reduce my punishment?_ I thought dumfounded.

"It-uh… it definitely sounds better, Professor." I replied astonished.

He nodded back at me and smiled at me as he tapped on his scroll and put it back in his pocket.

"Very good, now that that's dealt with, I would like to address the second issue I brought you here for."

"And what might that be?" I asked.

His expression turned more serious as he continued to look me in the eyes. "Your mental health."

I scoffed and leant back in the chair. "You think I'm crazy?" I said with a smirk.

His expression remained serious as he talked. "No Mr Taren, I am concerned about the fact that you might have post-traumatic stress disorder." I just looked back at him. "You've been having nightmares lately, haven't you?"

"How did you know about that? Did Jaune tell you?" I asked, leaning forward in my seat.

He shook his head. "Mr. Arc told me nothing. As I told you before; I know what it's like to lose someone close to you and despite what some students might think; I am still human and have had my fair share of sleepless nights." He kept his fingers laced together and his gaze fixed on my eyes as he spoke.

I took a deep breath. _This guy knows exactly what's going on in every inch of this school._ I thought.

"Yes, Professor, it's true. I've been having them ever since initiation day." I said. "What do you suggest I do?"

"I will send you to counselling with Professor Port on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for one hour after classes. I strongly recommend that you attend."

"I'll try, Professor Ozpin. Was there anything else?"

He shook his head. "Nothing further. You are dismissed." He said, taking a swig of whatever was in his coffee cup.

I got up and hit the elevator button for the ground floor.

 _Maybe Ozpin's right, maybe I do need that counselling._ I thought as the elevator descended.

I exited the elevator and headed back to my dorm, accidentally literally running into the rabbit faunus that I recognized from the cafeteria a couple days ago along the way. I offered her my hand and she shyly took it as I helped her up.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going and I'm half asleep right now." I said with a chuckle.

"No, it's my fault, I was distracted." She said with an accent that I couldn't quite place. Her gaze never left her feet as she apologized.

"Okay, how about we compromise and say we're both sorry?" I said with a smile.

She looked up at me with a pair of beautiful brown eyes and smiled.

"Sounds good. I'm Velvet by the way."

"Joseph." I replied.

A frightened expression replaced her happy one as she noticed Castor and Pollux on my arms. "You're the one who fought Cardin." She said quietly, looking back down at her feet.

"And you're the one he victimized." I stated.

"You really didn't have to do that, you know. My team probably would've gone behind my back and issued him a death threat."

I took a step back from her and rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "I-I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble, but I just couldn't stand idly by while he bullied you like that."

Velvet looked back up at me. "You don't like bullies?" She asked.

"I don't like bigots." I replied, crossing my arms. "And while I admit, I think I might've gone a little overboard, I don't regret what I did. Physical scars are a lot easier to heal than emotional ones."

"I guess that makes sense." Velvet replied.

"By the way, which team are you on?" I asked. _They must be pretty protective if they were willing to issue a death threat to Cardin._

"I'm part the second-year team: coffee." She declared proudly.

 _Oh, so that girl I ran into the other day must've been on her team._ "Do you have another girl on your team, she's kind of short, wears a beret, glasses and black and brown clothes?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, that's our leader, Coco. Why?" She replied.

I shook my head. "No reason, I've just seen her walking around the school a couple times." I lied, somewhat happy that a second-year team approved of my actions. "Anyway, hopefully I'll see you around, Velvet."

"Have a good day." She said politely, walking past me.

 _'Hopefully I'll see you around'?_ I asked myself. _Where did that come from?_ I unlocked my dorm room and rolled out my sleeping bag on the kitchen floor, hoping to catch up on some much needed rest, and oddly enough had no nightmares during my sleep.

I woke up just before five in the afternoon to Nora excitedly chatting about how well her grenades performed with Ren as they entered the room.

"Nora, please be quieter, I think Joe may be trying to sleep." I heard Ren say quietly as he opened the door.

"Not anymore." I said with a smile, getting up from my prone position on the floor.

"My apologies, Joe. Nora was just talking about how well her tests went." The stoic said, glaring at Nora who only grinned in response.

"There wasn't anything to pick up." She said evilly.

"So I take it that they performed well?" I asked the ginger-haired girl. Normally we avoided each other, but for some reason I was just in a good mood right now.

She bobbed her head up and down and I smiled at her enthusiasm. Pyrrha walked in as Ren took out his Stormflowers to polish and maintain.

"Hey, Pyrrha." I addressed the redhead. "Was anything wrong with Milo?"

"No, as it turns out, the delay between shifts was just my imagination." She replied, placing her weapon and shield on her desk.

"Either that, or you're getting faster." I added with a smile, which she returned.

The four of us sat in silence for a few minutes with myself reading a book about grimm anatomy on my sleeping bag, Ren and Pyrrha working on their weapons and Nora jumping up and down on her bed.

"Hey, Joe?" I heard Nora ask.

"What's up?" I replied, putting down my book.

"What was that project that you wanted Jaune to help you with?"

"Well that depends."

"On what?"

"Do you want for me to tell you now, or do you want it to be a surprise?" I said with a grin, knowing what her answer would be.

She grinned back and covered her ears. "Surprise, surprise, don't tell me!" She pleaded with me, still jumping on her bed. She uncovered her ears and her grin disappeared. "How come Jaune gets home so late?" She said, looking at the clock on her nightstand. "Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" She exclaimed as she landed spread eagle on her bed.

"He's become rather scarce ever since Cardin started picking on him." Ren stated.

"He said he was going to Vale today right?" I said. "So maybe he just got turned around for a while."

"You're right, I'm sure our leader knows exactly was he's doing." Pyrrha stated, but something in her voice almost sounded… sarcastic?

 _Whatever, probably just my imagination._ I thought. Seconds later, I also thought I heard the close and Jaune and Ruby's voices but again, probably just my imagination. _Man, do I ever need those counseling sessions. Maybe I really am going crazy._

(AN:So, what do you guys think so far? Worst story ever, not bad, decent, good? Reviews are more than welcome!)


	7. Surprises

The morning of our field trip, we all got up bright and early, save for Jaune who appeared to have significantly less energy than usual. We ate our breakfasts quickly and met Professor Goodwitch to head out to the forest of Forever Fall for our field trip.

Just as we were about to head out, I walked up next to Jaune to find out what was going on.

"What time did you get back to the dorm last night?" I asked him.

He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Around seven. I got lost in Vale." He said quickly.

"Yeah, that's what I told everyone else. No offense, Jaune." I added.

"Meh, none taken." He said with a shrug.

Goodwitch approached us from Jaune's side.

"Mr. Arc, would you please carry the jars needed for today?"

"Y-yes, ma'am." He responded nervously. It was no secret amongst us that he was terrified of miss Goodwitch. Mind you though, I couldn't exactly say I wasn't afraid of her either, especially after the whole 'Cardin' incident.

"And Mr. Taren." She turned her gaze to me. "Professor Ozpin informed me about your detention reduction as well as your counseling sessions with Professor Port. In this case, you will only need to attend detention for the next two weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so long as you attend the counselling sessions. If you don't, I expect to see you in detention."

"Yes ma'am." I nodded. _Wow, counselling with Port or detention with Goodwitch?_ There was no competition as to which I would be attending. _Port will probably just babble throughout the whole session anyways_. I thought with a smile.

The fourteen of us walked down to the forest, which I had to say, would make a pretty good place for a vacation spot. Nice and sunny, great view and relatively quiet, aside from the grimm of course.

Goodwitch was talking about collecting the tree sap as she walked. Every so often I'd take a look back at Cardin, but he avoided my gaze as best he could. _Nice to know that my lesson sunk in._ I thought.

Goodwitch stopped suddenly and faced us. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. Stay with your teammates as the forest is filled with the creatures of grimm. You will all meet me here once you have collected the sap."

We all nodded at the Professor and split off into our groups, with me and my teammates close to team RWBY. After I grabbed a jar, I looked around.

"Hey Pyrrha?"

"Yes, Joe?" She replied.

"Where's Jaune? I don't see him." I looked at the champion, who almost looked… depressed?

She put on a smile and looked at me from the tree where she was gathering sap. "He's around here somewhere. Probably just helping out someone else. You know how he is."

I nodded back. _One day, that guy's niceness is going to get him killed._

After a few minutes of sap gathering, which unfortunately had to be repeated several times thanks to Nora's apparent addiction to the stuff, the remainder of my teammates and RWBY regrouped with a jar of sap in everyone's arms.

Suddenly, Russell from team CRDL sprinted out of the tree line yelling something about an ursa, and straight into Yang.

"Where?" She demanded. _I wonder if she ever thought about becoming an interrogator?_ I thought as the mohawked-haired boy pointed from where he ran from.

"Back there, it's got Cardin!"

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said concerned.

"Yang, Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch." Ruby ordered her team.

Pyrrha looked to Ren and Nora. "You two, go with them. There could be more." She said as she held Milo in her right hand and her shield with her left.

"What about Weiss and me?" I asked them both with Castor and Pollux's blades extended.

"You should come with us." I nodded at Ruby, who then took off towards where Russell had come from.

The four of us stopped near a clearing where Cardin was knocked to the ground with an ursa towering over him and Jaune a few feet away from him.

I retracted my blades, crossed my arms, and watched, hoping that the bear-grimm would at least give Cardin a few good scratches.

What I saw instead though, was almost unbelievable had I not seen it with my own eyes. Jaune moved faster than I ever thought possible and blocked the hit from the ursa that was obviously meant for Cardin. The creature knocked my team leader away and refocused on him. Jaune went on the offensive and sprinted towards the ursa as it charged right back at him. Everything seemed to slow down as I saw Jaune make a move to decapitate the grimm and his shield was suddenly raised, with a black aura around it. The hit from the ursa was blocked and Jaune managed to take the creature's head off with one clean swipe.

"Uh, what?" Ruby said, voicing my thoughts.

"How did you…" Weiss spoke up.

"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs. My semblance is polarity."

 _And to think I haven't even discovered mine yet._ I thought. "Magnetism?" I asked, to which Pyrrha nodded as she turned around.

"Wait, we've got to tell them what happened!" Weiss declared, gesturing to Jaune and Cardin.

"We could." Our resident champion started. "Or, we could just keep our little secret."

I shrugged. "Sounds good to me, as long as Cardin stops picking on everyone. Be they faunus **or** human." I said as I walked back towards where we dropped the jars of red sap.

When we returned from our field trip, I remembered the counselling session with the pot-bellied Professor Port. _Great, one hour about more of his famous 'exploits'_ I thought with a groan. Reluctantly, I headed down to Port's classroom where he was already standing in front of his desk.

"Ah, Mr. Taren." He greeted me. "I was starting to think that you weren't going to be coming."

"I thought about it, Professor. But then I remembered my alternative option and decided that this would be better." I stated.

"And what was the alternative?" He asked.

"Detention with Professor Goodwitch." I replied.

He let out a hearty laugh. "I would've done anything to avoid the alternative, my boy." He said with a smile beneath that moustache.

 _At least he's got a sense of humor._ I thought.

"Anyway, how about we get started?" He asked me. I nodded back and he sat behind the desk he never used during regular classes, gesturing for me to sit down in a chair that had been placed in front of it.

I took my seat and waited for him to start. He clasped his hands together and just looked at me.

"So, how do these sessions usually start, Professor?" I asked. His smile disappeared and he held a serious expression on his face.

"Mr. Taren, I will get right to the point. Post-traumatic stress disorder is not something that one simply brushes off. An individual must deal with it as soon as possible in order to function properly in society, let alone in a school where you must remain focused one hundred percent of the time or die."

The words he spoke shocked me. _Wow. Who knew that Port had a serious side behind those tall tales and that huge gut?_ I wondered as he continued.

"The first step in recovery where I studied is to face your fears. Professor Ozpin told me that you have been having nightmares since initiation day. Why don't you tell me about them?" He asked me, his tone never changing from serious.

"Well…I…" I tried to spit out the horrors but I just couldn't. I couldn't think of their faces lying on the ground with pools of blood around them.

"Mr. Taren." Port's voice took on a more comforting tone. "Take your time. This isn't something that can be rushed or tackled with force."

I took a deep breath. "Would you like to hear about my most recent one?" I asked him, keeping my gaze on the wooden desk.

"Yes."

I regaled him with my most recent nightmare about seeing Andrea being bitten in two by an ursa and her saying the word semblance, which took a lot longer than it should've due to the fact that I broke into tears more than twice.

After I finished telling him about the nightmare and had tears streaming down my face once more, Port waited for me to regain my composure before he spoke.

"Mr. Taren. You fought as well as you possibly could've to protect your friends that day. Yourself and Elias were separated and there was nothing you could've done to save him. As hard as it may be to believe, death is all around a huntsman and it is their duty to deal with it, whether it targets themselves or the ones we love."

"I know Professor but…" I started.

"Joseph. Do you think that if your friends were here now, that they would approve of your grieving over them?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "No sir. Andrea would tell me to get a grip, Denara would probably say something encouraging and Elias would probably give some smart-ass comment." I said with a chuckle as I looked up at Professor Port, who smiled back.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. I suggest you go back to your dorm and get some rest." He told me.

"Thank you sir. I will." I said as I got up and headed to the closest restroom first to check my reflection in the mirror. I didn't want my teammates to see me with bloodshot eyes. I rubbed some cold water on my face and caught my breath as I calmed down and headed back.

That night, myself, Nora and Ren sat in our dorm as Ren made more of his legendary pancakes.

"So why do you guys think Jaune was with Cardin in the forest in the first place? You don't help out someone who's been picking on you since day one." I asked my teammates.

"Joseph, I think it's better that you just leave it alone." Ren declared, not looking up from his frying pan. "Some questions are better left unanswered."

"Besides," Nora piled on. "If Jaune wanted to tell us, he would." At least I'm pretty sure that's what she said. I really couldn't tell with her mouth being full of pancakes.

"Alright then, I'll leave it alone." I finished my pancakes, washed the dishes and waited for Ren to be done in the kitchen before showering, changing into my sleepwear with my gauntlets on, and going to sleep.

I woke up again in sweats again sometime during the night with this nightmare featuring the demise of Elias and the horrid vision of a king taijitu biting through his metal armor like it was paper, and flinging away his body like it was a pebble. Again, I was too late to save my friend and again, when I went over to his body to check if he was alive, I heard the word semblance.

 _Why does that word keep coming up?_ I asked myself. I decided to just let it go and tried to go back to sleep, to no avail.

Two more weeks passed by in this same fashion as I attended detention on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the counseling sessions on every other day, having nightmares every night. Another Sunday rolled around when I heard that Blake had run away from team RWBY.

"Why do you think she ran?" I asked Jaune as him and the rest of our team was seated in the cafeteria across from where team RWBY would usually sit.

"Honestly I have no idea. Ruby said that Weiss mentioned the White Fang and then she just ran out. The whole team's been looking ever since." He said digging into his lunch. "Oh! I just remembered." Jaune declared as he swallowed a mouthful of his ham sandwich. "Joe, the project you wanted me to do is finished."

I grinned like a madman at the news. "Thank you so much, Jaune. Where is it?"

"Better yet, **what** is it?" Nora asked excitedly.

"It's up in the dorm right now. I'll show it to you both after lunch." Jaune said smiling at our bubbly teammate and myself

I smiled and nodded. "Sounds good." I reached into my wallet and pulled out a hundred lien and gave it to my team leader. "That's for the fabric, the time you put into it, and for putting up with me so far."

Jaune started to push the five notes of twenty lien back towards me but I stopped him by extending my right blade and letting it hang down where he could see it.

"Jaune, if you give me back that money, I'm going to have to hurt you." I said with mock seriousness.

Jaune sighed at me. "You really are impossible, you know that?" He said, putting the money in his own wallet.

I retracted the blade and went back to my lunch. "Yeah, I know." I said with a smirk.

Jaune, Nora and myself finished lunches first and under Nora's influence, Jaune took us both back to the dorm to reveal the project I wanted him to do.

Jaune unlocked the door using his scroll, pushed it open and went over to his desk where he opened up one of the drawers. From inside it, he picked up a hard leather, half-face mask the same shade of green as the wolf-twin's hair with a light blue scale image of my gauntlets with the blades extended and crossed over each other on the left cheek of the mask and showed it to Nora and me.

"So? What do you think?" Jaune asked as he held up the mask.

"It's everything I could've hoped for, Jaune. Thank you." I said with pure honesty. I now had something to remember the twins by as well as my symbol. "I'll wear it with pride. Thank you for sticking with the same shade of green I showed you." I said as he handed it over to me.

"Yeah well, even if I wanted to, I don't think I would've changed it. The color looks good enough as it is."

I looked at Nora who had been silent this whole time as she gawked at the mask.

"How about you, Nora? What do you think?"

"I think it looks nice." She said indifferently.

"You were hoping for something else, weren't you?" I asked with a smile.

"Maybe." She declared.

I just decided to let her curiosity go and I went down to the locker room to put my new piece of equipment along with the rest of my armor.

I closed the door to my locker and decided to head back to the cafeteria to see if Ren and Pyrrha were still there. On the way though, I ran into Velvet in her Beacon Academy uniform again and accidentally knocked her to the ground.

"So is this going to be a recurring thing?" I asked with a smile as I helped the rabbit faunus to her feet.

She took my hand and smiled back as she stood up. "You're just lucky that you're bumping into me and not Yatsuhashi." She replied.

I tilted my head slightly. "Who's that?" I asked.

I saw her smirk. "One of my teammates. Would you like to meet him?"

I shrugged back. "Sure, I don't have anything else planned today. How about you?"

"Well my team has to prepare for a mission that we'll be going on soon but otherwise, no."

"Alright then, lead on." She nodded and led me down Beacon's long hallways and up a flight of stairs to what I could only assume was her team's dorm room.

Velvet unlocked the door with her scroll, making it beep and was about to knock when I heard a male voice say the words: "Come in."

Velvet sighed as she opened the door. I looked around and saw that her team's dorm was about the same as ours. Four beds, four desks, a kitchen, a bathroom and a window directly across from the doorway.

I heard the shower running and saw one of the desks occupied by someone with dark skin, red clothes and either really dark red or black hair who was reading a book with his finger tracing along the lines.

"Fox, how many times have I asked you not to do that?" Velvet asked the guy at the desk.

"Around fifty." He replied, turning in his chair with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed.

Velvet sighed again and I waved at Fox. "Hi, my name's Joseph." I said, looking at his white eyes.

Fox looked in my direction. "Fox Alistair. I'm blind by the way." He said bluntly.

"So being blind must make your other senses more acute." I stated. "That's how you heard Velvet unlock the door." I stated.

He gave another smirk. "Being blind has its perks."

"Anyway, Fox." Velvet spoke up. "Do you know where Yatsuhashi is?"

Fox flicked his head towards the bathroom. "Trying to clean off the grimm blood from the last extermination."

"Thanks. What about Coco? Do you know where she is?" Velvet replied.

"Right behind you, bun-bun." I heard from the doorway. "You mind telling me why the guy who put a hole in Cardin's shoulder is here?"

We both turned around to see the fashionista standing in team coffee's doorway with a left hand on her hip and her right hand gripping a handbag. Velvet started to stutter but I decided to answer for her. "I bumped into her in the hallway and she offered to introduce me to Yatsuhashi."

Coco scoffed and readjusted her glasses. "Any excuse to bring back a guy to the dorm huh, Velvet?" She said walking past us and sitting at her desk to read.

I felt my cheeks heat up immensely and I turned to Velvet who was also blushing hard.

 _Straight for the boyfriend-girlfriend thing? Really?_ I thought as a human giant emerged from the bathroom wearing a long-sleeved robe with a huge amount of armor on his left shoulder and a black muscle shirt underneath. He also had a pair of metal bracers on his arms as well as short black hair.

Velvet looked up from her feet and saw the giant. "Hey, Yatsu." She called to him.

"Velvet." He said with a smile and a nod. His expression grew serious as he saw me. "And who are you?"

"Relax, big man. If he wanted to hurt her, I would've killed him already." Fox said from his book. _Must be a Braille book_. I thought.

"My name's Joseph Taren." I said with an extended hand, hoping that he wouldn't break my arm.

"Yatsuhashi Daichi." He replied with a smile and returning the handshake. I held in a yelp of pain from the guy's death grip as best I could. "I heard that you're the one who took it upon yourself to get even with Cardin Winchester." He said as he released my hand.

"I would've done it first, but you beat me to it." Fox declared.

"And I would've beaten **you** to it." Coco said from behind her book. "Nobody messes with my team and gets away scott-free."

"So I take it that none of you are big fans of anti-faunus actions?" I asked.

"Nope." They said in unison except for Velvet, who just looked at her feet.

"But I have to give you credit, kid. I heard that your gauntlet plunged into his arm whereas mine only would've given him a few big scratches." Fox said.

"You have gauntlets too?" I asked the blind man. He turned around in his chair and nodded directly at me.

"Mine are just bladed and it sounds like yours fire explosives as well as have retractable swords." He said.

"I think you two should spar some time. See who's better with their blades." Coco said with a wide smirk as she addressed her blind teammate, who smirked back and nodded.

"Coco, you know that wouldn't be fair!" Velvet interjected. "Joseph's a first year, whereas we're a year ahead of him!"

I looked around the room at the second year students. I knew that if I agreed to the match that I'd get my ass kicked, so I have no idea why the hell I said yes.

"Great!" Coco said excitedly. "But it'll have to wait until after we're done our mission."

"When are you guys leaving?" I asked.

"Tomorrow morning." Velvet replied.

"That soon? Really?" I asked the rabbit faunus, to which she nodded. "How long will you be gone?"

"Ozpin said for about two weeks, depending on the amount of grimm that are in the area of the village we'll be defending." Fox spoke up.

 _Wow._ I had no idea why, but the idea of Velvet being away from Beacon hit me kind of hard. In an effort to calm my subconscious, I made the boldest move I have ever made in my life.

"Hey Velvet? Can I have your number in case you want to talk at all?" I asked her.

"S-s-s…" She probably would've continued stuttering if Coco didn't interrupt her.

"It's either 'sure' or 'sorry', Velv. Spit it out." She said with a laugh.

Velvet took a deep breath. "Sure, I would absolutely like to talk with you sometime while we're on mission. Coco's usually only focused on the mission, Yatsuhashi will keep on asking if the defenses are up and Fox will probably just sit there reading that book so my teammates aren't exactly conversationalists." She said with a small laugh as she took out her scroll and showed me her number.

I typed it into my own and sent a message saying hi.

"Alright then, I guess I'll see you around, Velvet." I said as her scroll buzzed in her hand. "Nice meeting all of you." I said as I made for the door. "And Fox!" I called back before exiting the dorm room. The blind man turned to me with his hands on his knees.

"Don't go easy on me." I said with a smirk.

He laughed out loud. "I wasn't planning on it." He said as he spun back around in his chair. I left team CFVY to their preparations and made for the cafeteria.

I sat by myself because Jaune and Pyrrha were probably sparring together; Ren and Nora were most likely studying in the library and team RWBY was still unaccounted for.

As I ate my dinner, which consisted of a rare steak, mashed potatoes and corn, my mind constantly kept going back to Velvet.

Why do I feel so comfortable around her? Is it because she's a faunus? Maybe Cardin was actually right and I actually do love any girl who's a faunus.

I continued to slowly pick away at my dinner until team RWBY came in and sat across from me, each with their own individual meals. They sat in order with Ruby and Yang taking the ends and Weiss and Blake in the middle.

"Where have you guys been all day?" I asked the four girls.

Weiss and Blake just looked at each other and shared a friendly smile that I've never seen on either of their faces as Ruby ate her dinner.

Thankfully, Yang spoke up. "Team meeting." She replied.

"And what about Blake running away?" I asked. "Was that part of the 'team meeting' as well?"

Yang sighed back. "Joe, we'll tell you and the rest of your teammates more about it later."

I nodded back as I continued to eat my steak.

"So what have you been up to all day, Joe?" I heard Ruby ask.

I shrugged. "Not much. I accidentally bumped into Velvet again today and I met her team and Jaune finished a project I wanted some help with."

I saw Yang get a massive smirk on her face. "I guess you have to meet your girlfriend's friends before you meet her parents."

I groaned in frustration. "Velvet is just a friend okay, Yang? She's not my girlfriend and I don't think that she'd like to be even if I asked her."

The brawler kept smirking at my response. "Alright then, what about the project that vomit-boy did for you? What was it?"

It was my turn to smirk. "I'll tell you when you tell me about that 'team meeting'." I replied.

"Fine. But get the rest of your teammates together. I'm only going to say it once." Yang said.

"Alright, we'll meet in your guys' dorm."

"Why ours?" Weiss interjected.

"Well, probably because I don't want to hear you complain about Nora's cleanliness for three hours." I stated. Everyone else thought it was a joke but I was pretty serious.

I finished my meal and left the four girls to talk amongst one another as I headed back to my dorm for some sleep. I changed into my sleepwear with Castor and Pollux still on my arms and went to sleep. Strangely, however, I awoke the next morning with no nightmares.


	8. Something to Think About

In the next few weeks, I continued to attend Professor Port's counseling sessions after classes, which I found helped a little bit. I still slept with Castor and Pollux on my arms at night, but the nightmares were less frequent. I also texted back and forth with Velvet while she was on mission. Blake told all of us that she was a faunus, to some surprise of mine and everyone else acted indifferently. Thankfully, Goodwitch got me into the rotation for sparring in classes and as hard as it was, I showed restraint to all my opponents, even if they were my friends. I managed to win against Weiss, Ren and Jaune, but my other friends managed to beat me senseless. I learned a hard lesson when I fought against Yang though: Don't mess with her hair. One of my blades accidentally nicked her golden locks and she just went berserk, leaving me with more than a few bruises.

Our teams were eating our breakfasts at separate tables for today due to all the exchange students arriving from other kingdoms when I decided to phone Velvet to see how she was doing.

The scroll rang about four times before I heard a male voice pick up.

"Hello?"

"Yatsuhashi?" I asked.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"It's Joseph. The first-year student from Beacon?" I tried to jog his memory.

"Ah, yes I remember now."

 _Thank Oum he remembers me._ "Where's Velvet?"

"In the shower right now." He replied.

"Okay then, just tell her I called to say hi." I said, trying to keep the disappointment hidden in my voice.

"I will. Goodbye."

"Wait, Yatsu!" I called into my scroll.

"Yes?" He sounded exasperated.

"Just…keep her safe. Please?" I have no idea what made me say that. Sure Velvet was my friend, but she was also a second-year student. She wouldn't have gotten where she was now if she wasn't capable of taking care of herself.

"I will." He hung up.

I pressed the end call button on my scroll and put it back in my pocket as I saw Nora holding a pie in her hand, aiming towards team RWBY.

"Nora, wait!" Ren tried to stop her, but she looked away at her partner and I guess the pie went to the face of an unintended target, Weiss Schnee.

 _I'm getting the fuck out of here._ I thought as I sprinted towards the exit. After slamming the doors to the cafeteria closed behind me, I saw a food fight already emerging. _Goodwitch is not going to be happy about that._ My attention was distracted when I heard a very familiar voice.

"…And the best part is, she's a faunus!" I looked over to see my cousin Sun walking towards the cafeteria with his teammate, partner and friend Neptune walking beside him. "But that's a secret."

"You never were very good at keeping them." I said with crossed arms and a smile as they approached.

"I- yeah, I guess so, but then again, you never could lie to save your life." He retorted.

I shook my head and gave him a brotherly hug. "It's good to see you again, Sun. You too, Neptune."

Sun quickly returned the hug and looked at me up and down. "You've grown since the last time I saw you."

"Well considering the fact that was over six years ago, I should hope so." I replied.

"But since when do you wear your weapons over top of your uniform?" My cousin asked me.

I looked at Castor and Pollux on my arms and clenched my fists to repress the reason why.

I took a deep breath and looked in his eyes. "It's a long story that I'd rather not tell."

He just nodded back at me and changed the topic. "So why didn't you tell me that you were attending Beacon? We could've met at the docks."

I looked at him confused. Sun really wasn't that much of a fan of flying which only meant that he meant the boat docks. I sighed. "You stowed away again?"

He smiled and feigned innocence. "Little old me? No, that's ridiculous." He said with his hands raised defensively.

"Neptune, did he?" I asked the other blue haired boy, his hair a few shades lighter than mine. We had only met once or twice, but he seemed like a pretty good guy and I had to admit, he pulled off his hair color a lot better than I did.

"Yes, he did." He stated, glaring at his teammate.

"Anyway, we're here to see team RWBY. Are they in there?" Sun asked, gesturing to the cafeteria.

"Yeah, but you might want to wait for a while." I replied.

"Naw, come on Neptune, I really want you to meet these guys." Sun failed to heed my warning and went in anyway with his best friend in tow.

I just smiled and shook my head again. _Hope Neptune doesn't get anything on that nice jacket of his._ I thought as I headed to the library to study.

A few hours later, the rest of my teammates and team RWBY entered the library and RWBY played that weird board game while we studied.

Well… myself, Ren and Pyrrha studied while Nora slept and Jaune read X-ray and Vav comics. A few pieces of the game that RWBY was playing occasionally flew over to our table but we managed to dodge most of them.

"S'up, losers?" I heard Sun ask.

I looked up from my book and saw Sun standing behind Blake at the table where the four girls were playing their game.

"Well, if it isn't the king of abs himself." I replied with a smile.

Ruby looked between Sun and myself as she figured out the connection. "Sun, do you and Joe know each other?" She asked.

Sun nodded back at the little red reaper. "He's my cousin. My mom's sister's son."

I laughed at the expression on Ruby and Yang's faces as they tried imagining Sun and myself as cousins.

"I may not be a monkey's uncle, but I am a monkey's cousin." I said, my smile growing.

Sun shot me an annoyed look. "Very funny." He said sarcastically. I just kept smiling and returned to my book as Sun introduced Neptune to team RWBY.

The next day, we got another influx of exchange students from Haven. Only three of them though, which I thought was pretty strange. Ruby told me that the team leader's name was Cinder and she usually hung around with a grey haired guy and a mint-haired girl.

"But who's the fourth member of their team?" I asked Ruby as she performed maintenance on Crescent Rose down in the armory while I cleaned some of Cardin's dried blood off the blades and added more grenades to Castor and Pollux.

She shrugged her shoulders as she adjusted the scope on her weapon. "I don't know. When I ran into her, I only saw the three of them there. Maybe the fourth one was just out sick for the day and couldn't arrive on that day. You saw Sun and Neptune, but did you see the rest of their team?" She asked me.

"Alright, good point." I replied. _Still, Cinder looks a little bit old, even if she's a fourth year student._ I shook the thoughts from my head and focused on not trying to blow myself up while I loaded the impact grenades into my gauntlets.

"Hey Ruby?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Have you noticed how Pyrrha's been acting around Jaune?"

"No, I haven't. Why? Is something wrong?"

I thought for a minute before answering. "It's not exactly what's wrong, it's more of what isn't happening. I think that Pyrrha likes Jaune and with the dance coming up this weekend, she's just been acting kind of strange around him lately."

"Maybe she's trying to get Jaune to ask her to the dance?" She offered.

"Could be." I nodded at her. "Although if that's the case, why doesn't she just straight up ask him?"

Ruby put down her weapon and looked at me. "Joe, you know what Pyrrha's like. She doesn't push anyone towards anything, she only offers her help. She lets people make their own decisions and leaves it at that."

I smiled at the red hooded girl. "You know, you're pretty insightful for a fifteen-year old."

She smiled back. "I try."

The next day, I was sitting in the library trying to study, but my focus was constantly being broken by the fact that I had texted Velvet last night before I went to sleep and she hadn't texted back. Normally, she was very prompt when we messaged each other, but it was unusual for her to not respond.

 _What if something went wrong with the mission?_ I thought. _What if they got overwhelmed?_

I was shaken out of my thoughts by Pyrrha's sudden appearance at the table across from me.

"Hello, Joe."

"Hey, Pyrrha." I replied.

She looked at me for a couple seconds with a worried expression. "Are you alright?"

I looked up from my book at the champion in her usual day-to-day clothes/combat gear.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well when I walked up you just seemed distant, like you were focused on something other than your book."

I sighed. _I guess there's really no point in keeping it a secret._ "Can I tell you something a little personal, Pyrrha?" I asked as I closed my book and leaned back in my chair.

"Of course, we're teammates. You can tell me anything." She said with sincerity.

I smiled. That was something I quickly learned during my time with team JNPR. Beneath Pyrrha's warrior exterior, there was a caring, kind person, not just Pyrrha Nikos the invincible girl.

"Okay, you know that team CFVY has been on a mission for some time now, right?" She nodded back. "Well, I've become really good friends with Velvet and I'm afraid that something might've happened to her and her team."

"Joe, they're a team of second-year students, I'm sure they're fine."

"I keep telling myself that same thing, but I texted Velvet last night and she hasn't responded back!" I said loudly, earning a shush from the librarian.

Pyrrha clasped her hands together and breathed deeply. "Joe, as much as I hate to say this, there's really nothing you can do until they return from their mission, which I'm sure that they will."

I sighed again. "Okay, I guess that you're right. But I just can't fathom losing another friend at Beacon. First it was Andrea, and then it was Elias, then Denara. If I lose another friend, I'm afraid that I actually might go insane." I replied.

"Just be patient. She'll be all right." I nodded back, still not completely satisfied with her answer. "Why the fixation with Velvet though? Do you have feelings for her?"

I looked back at Pyrrha, her own words just now sinking in to her own mind.

"I-I'm so sorry, Joe I didn't mean…"

"It's all right, Pyrrha." I cut her off. "I've actually been asking myself the same question lately and I think that the answer is yes."

Pyrrha held a look of relief on her face as she replied back to me. "So you like her?"

I nodded back. "Yeah. I don't really know what it is about her, but I just seem to find her more attractive than any other girl." I said honestly.

Pyrrha flashed me a smile and returned to her books, but something was off about this smile compared to most of her regular signs of happiness. She almost seemed jealous.

 _I guess now's a better time than any._ "Pyrrha?"

"Yes?"

"You have feelings for Jaune, don't you?" I stated rather than asked.

Pyrrha started blushing and she avoided eye contact as she spoke. "I-I-I don't know w-what you're talking about." She said innocently.

I looked at her with a sincere expression. "Pyrrha. It's all right. I know that with the dance coming up and with nobody else asking you, I know that Jaune's been on your mind lately." Pyrrha sighed at me. "I just want to help." I added.

She took a deep breath and looked back up at me. "He's been going after Weiss though and I don't know what to do."

"Oh." _Well that's a little bit of a wrinkle._ I thought with a slight frown. "I guess all you can do is wait and hope for the best. I was going to ask Velvet to the dance but if she's not back by then and Jaune doesn't ask you, I'll accompany you if you'd like." I offered.

She smiled back at me. "Thank you Joe, that's very kind of you."

I nodded. "Anything for a teammate."

After we studied together and compared notes for about an hour and a half, I then decided to walk around Beacon to get some fresh air. I packed up my books and headed down to the dorm to drop them off before my walk.

When I passed team RWBY's dorm room though, I distinctly heard Sun's voice. I decided to knock on the door and waited. A few seconds later, Ruby poked her head through the doorway.

"Ruby." I greeted her with suspicion. "Did I just hear Sun's voice from your dorm?"

She avoided eye contact as she replied. "Yeah, Sun was hanging from the tree just outside our window and he just dropped by to say hi."

I just shook my head. "I'm sorry about his behavior. If you want, I can talk to him and ask him to leave you guys alone." I offered.

"No, no, no. It's fine. He's not causing any trouble." She replied quickly.

"Okay then, I guess I'll see you later, Ruby." I said as I turned to enter my room.

"Later!" I heard as she slammed her door shut.

 _Sun's going to find himself in a boatload of trouble if he tries to hit on any of those girls._ I thought with a chuckle as I set down my books on my desk.

I spent the rest of the day walking around, meeting a few new exchange students and checking out some areas of Beacon I hadn't seen before.

The weekend rolled by surprisingly quickly and I noticed that Jaune still hadn't asked Pyrrha to the dance yet, much to her sadness. I was getting even more worried that he wouldn't when I noticed Jaune continuing to step up his efforts in order to get Weiss to say yes to going with him.

Pyrrha was gearing up to go to her regular training session with Jaune up on the roof while I decided to take Ren up on his offer to teach me those meditation techniques.

"Breathe deeply and let all conscious thoughts leave your mind." Ren told me as I sat on my sleeping bag with my eyes closed. I complied and tried to get everything out of mind but the only things that stayed were my worries about Velvet and Pyrrha's conundrum with her partner.

I sighed, exasperated and opened my eyes. "Forget it Ren, I don't think I'm going to be able to concentrate until Velvet's back." I said as I stood up and sat at my desk with the chair facing the rest of my teammates.

"Very well then. We'll continue when she comes back." He nodded at me as he picked up a book.

I nodded at the stoic boy and turned my gaze to Pyrrha, who was loading up a backpack with water bottles.

"He still hasn't asked you yet, has he?" I said to her, already knowing the answer.

She sighed and kept her back to me. "No, he's still focused on Weiss." She said dejectedly.

"Can I just beat him up until he says yes?" Nora asked as she jumped on her bed.

I just shook my head and chuckled lightly at Nora's usual brutish attitude.

"Probably not the best idea, Nora." I replied with a smile. I returned my gaze back to Pyrrha, who was now heading for the door. "Pyrrha, if you want Jaune to ask you to the dance, you're going to have to be straightforward with him, otherwise he'll just keep going after Weiss." I stated bluntly.

Her hand stopped just short of the doorknob as she turned to face me and put on a small smile. "Thank you Joe, but I think that Jaune will get the message eventually."

With that, she left to go train with her partner and I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Jaune's not going to ask her unless one of us goes up to him and tells him to." I said to Ren and Nora.

Ren looked up from his book at me. "Joe, I think that it's best if you left thing up to fate."

"Renny!" Nora yelled at her partner. "We have to do something! I don't want to see either of them be sad for the whole year!" She said with a pout.

"I'm actually with Nora on this one, Ren." I interjected. "We've got to do something. They obviously have feelings for each other and I can't really see Weiss and Jaune ever getting together."

Ren let out a sigh and returned to his book. "If you guys want to do something, go ahead but leave me out of it. I sincerely believe that fate will sort things out in good time."

"Okay then, any ideas, Nora?" I asked.

Nora put a finger on her chin as she thought. "We could lock them both in a broom closet together until they say they like each other."

I sighed. "Maybe try something a little more subtle, Nora?" I pleaded.

"Okay." She thought for another moment. "We get Ozpin to tell them that they like each other."

I let out another sigh. From behind his book, I saw Ren shaking his head.

 _This is going to take a while._

After a few hours of discussing ways to get Jaune and Pyrrha together and finding no viable solution, we both decided to call it a night and go to sleep.

I found myself walking around Beacon again, this time at probably one or two in the morning as I was dressed in my regular clothes but without my gauntlets. As I strolled around the statue in the middle of the grounds, I heard a familiar male voice.

"VELVET!" I heard the voice scream. It came from the forest of Forever Fall, so I sprinted in that direction.

As I ran into the red woods, I found Fox fighting off three ursa majors at a time, holding his own against the three monsters easily. He moved like lightning as he slashed at each of their stomachs, causing them to bleed profusely and eventually drop to the ground dead with a deep thud.

I rushed over to the red and brown clad fighter, out of breath and worried for Velvet.

"Fox, where's Velvet? Where's the rest of your team?" I half asked, half pleaded with the blind badass.

"We got split up when a nevermore attacked. Velvet went north, Coco east and Yatsuhashi to the west."

I nodded at him and immediately ran north, leaving him by himself. As I ran, I encountered the clearing where Jaune saved Cardin, and found Velvet lying there, blood pooling around her small figure with several Alpha beowolves feasting on her corpse.

I felt tears in my eyes and I fell to my knees, horrified at the scene in front of me. When I awoke, the tears did not cease their flowing. I looked around the dorm and saw the clock on Ren's nightstand that read 3:21. I decided that I wasn't going to get any sleep for the rest of the night.

I silently got up, dressed in my day-to-day attire and headed down to the gym in an attempt to turn my grief into rage.

As I hit the bag filled with sand in the gym, I kept psyching myself into more of a fit of rage rather than a pit of sorrow.

 _Those beowolves tore her apart. You were going to do the same damn thing to them weren't you? You would've taken your blades and severed their limbs one by one until they were left suffering on the ground, wishing for death to come._ I thought to myself.

I performed punch after punch, throwing in a few kicks for good measure, imagining the sandbag as the Alphas that tore apart Velvet in my dream.

 _They just devoured her and they had no idea that you were there._ I went through the whole procedure about what I would've done to the grimm and I thought I saw the sandbag getting smaller, but paid it no mind.

I hit the bag over and over again until a voice from behind me caused me to stop.

"Trouble sleeping again, Mr. Taren?" Ozpin asked me from the doorway of the gym, his coffee mug still in hand.

I stopped and turned to face him. "Another nightmare, yes." I said in between breaths.

He took a swig of whatever what was in his mug and looked at me. "You got larger." He stated.

I looked at him, confused. "I haven't been working out that much, Professor. I didn't think that it would show."

He just shook his head at me. "Mr. Taren, do you know what your semblance is?"

"No." I replied.

"Well I think that you may have just discovered it. While you were hitting the sandbag, your height grew to rival that of an Alpha beowolf. However, when I called your name, you shrank down to your normal height." He stated.

 _Is that really what my semblance could be?_ "Do you have any proof of this, Professor?"

He nodded back at me and pointed to one of the security cameras. "I should be able to pull video surveillance from that camera and it will show that your height did in fact, increase."

"But if I got bigger, than shouldn't I have gotten stronger as well?" I asked him.

"Mr. Taren, everyone's semblance is different. I don't know what the exact conditions of yours is until you explore it further." He looked outside one of the windows and saw the sun beginning to rise. "I suggest that you get back to your dorm. Your teammates will be wondering where you are."

I nodded at Ozpin and started heading back. When I got to the room, I saw Ren clad in a pink towel and Jaune sitting beside him on his bed with Nora in her pajamas reading a comic book in her own bed with her headphones on. I decided not to question the situation and I went to the shower to wash away the sweat and tears that had accumulated over the past few hours.

By the time I got out and changed into a new dark blue t-shirt with black jeans, Jaune was gone and Pyrrha was just staring at her desk.

"What's up?" I asked everyone.

No one answered me for quite a while until Pyrrha spoke up, her voice shaky and filled with sadness. "I gave Jaune advice on how to go after Weiss."

My eyes shot open and I was fully awake now. _Pyrrha! How could you do that? You know that Jaune has feelings for you!_ I screamed in my mind. I looked over at Ren and Nora in disbelief, who both nodded at me. _I guess if it's what she wanted to do, there's nothing I can do to stop her._ "That was very nice of you, Pyrrha." I stated, trying to lighten the mood.

"Thank you, Joe." She replied back, her gaze not leaving her desk.

I spent the rest of the day helping out Weiss and Yang set up for the dance tomorrow night. I arrived at the ballroom to find Weiss yelling at a dejected Ruby about tablecloths and Yang carrying a massive speaker.

I walked over to Yang. "Anything I can do to help?" I offered.

She shook her head. "Not unless you can get Weiss to stop being so…so…"

"Weiss?" I asked with a smirk.

She laughed. "Exactly." She turned her head to examine their work so far. "Weiss! I thought we agreed! No doilies!" Yang yelled as she stomped her foot in anger. I dodged out of the way of the argument between the brawler and the heiress and sat down next to Ruby.

"Something bugging you?" I asked the normally jovial reaper.

She nodded from her slumped down position in her seat. "Blake's not going to the dance."

"Why?" I asked.

Ruby was about to say something when I saw Yang put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "Blake's just focused on other things right now, but don't worry. She's going." She said with a smile.

 _Okay, nothing to worry about there._ I thought suspiciously as Sun and Neptune walked in.

"Hey, Sun." I greeted my cousin.

"Hey." He replied with a nod. He turned his gaze to the girls. "You ladies all excited for dress up?" He said with a smile.

Ruby looked up slightly. "Not if Blake isn't going." She stated.

Yang looked back down at her sister. "Ruby, don't worry about it. She will be at the dance tomorrow."

"You gonna wear that to the dance?" I asked Sun, pointing to his normal clothes.

"Duh." He replied sarcastically. "What else?"

I looked at Weiss. "What do you think about that, Weiss? Suitable or not suitable for the dance?" She just facepalmed. "Alright then, Neptune, can you maybe pick out something that would make this guy at least halfway presentable?" I asked my fellow blue haired man.

Neptune just shrugged. "I can try, but it's going to be pretty damn hard."

Weiss let her arms drop to her sides as she sighed. "Thank you, Neptune, you'd be doing us all a huge favor."

I laughed at my cousin's expense while he just glared at me.

"No problem, Snow Angel." Neptune said with his signature 'lady killer' smile as he called it. I looked at Weiss to find her blushing.

 _Damn, talk about things that happen once in a blue moon._ I thought.

I left to let the Sun, Neptune, Ruby and Weiss converse with each other as Yang and myself left the ballroom.

"So do you mind filling me in as to why Blake's not going to the dance?" I asked.

She just shrugged as we walked. "It's a long story." She replied.

"Okay then, I'll let you do that and I've got to go and shop for a decent suit in Vale. See you at the dance, Yang." I said with a wave of my hand as I headed down to the docks.

"Yup." She replied, returning the wave.


	9. Time to Relax

It took the rest of the day and most of the day after, but I finally decided on a black and red suit with a black jacket and dress pants with a red shirt and straight necktie with black dress shoes. Just before I headed down to the ballroom, I straightened my hair for probably the hundredth time that night and headed out.

I entered the ballroom to find Yang at the podium, greeting students as they filed in.

I approached the podium and gave her a wave. "Hey Yang. Nice dress." I said with a smile.

"Thanks." She replied. "I like your choice of clothes, but your hair color kind of makes them clash."

I shrugged. "Yeah, but who cares?" I said with a laugh as I walked past her. I looked around to see if Jaune and Pyrrha were together. I managed to see Jaune by himself, Neptune chatting up a couple girls and Weiss trying to make sure everything was perfect, occasionally getting a couple of glances at Neptune. In Weiss' eyes I saw what looked like sadness. I then remembered the compliment Neptune shot at Weiss yesterday and thought of something.

I put the thoughts of looking for Jaune and Pyrrha together aside for the moment and walked up behind Neptune, giving him a tap on the shoulder.

"Hey, Joe, how's it going? Got yourself a date?" He said with a cheerful voice as he turned around.

I shook my head. "No, my date is… not here just yet." I said with a smile as I thought of Velvet. "How about you?" I asked with crossed arms.

I saw him get a little nervous and start to fidget. "Uh… yeah about that…" He trailed off.

I sighed at him and motioned for him to follow me so we could talk in private. Once we were upstairs and out of earshot, I waited for him to continue.

"Weiss asked me to the dance and I said no." He continued.

I gave him a confused look. "Why?"

He fidgeted again. It's-it's because I…I.…"

"Out with it." I rushed him.

"Can't dance." He said quickly as he turned his gaze to the floor.

I crossed my arms again. "Dude, you do realize that Weiss likes you right? Otherwise she wouldn't have asked you to the dance." He nodded in acknowledgment. "So you're telling me that you'd rather place your own pride over her heart?"

"Well when you say it like that, it kind of makes me sound like a jerk." He stated, insulted.

I nodded back. "And I think that you are just because you can't admit to Weiss that you can't dance. I've seen how she looks at you and I know for a fact that she likes you. How about you go talk to her and see what happens?" I offered.

He took a deep breath and looked back up in my eyes. "I will. Thanks, Joe."

I waved him off. "No problem." He started to walk away. "And Neptune!" He turned to face me. "Drop the whole 'cool guy shtick' just be Neptune Vasilias, not 'Neptune the cool guy'." I said with a smile. He smiled back and nodded, heading down the stairs.

I looked over the railing and saw Pyrrha walk in wearing a long red dress with her hair done in its usual ponytail and she headed straight for the balcony on the second floor.

I managed to see Jaune follow her and I followed him to see where he was going.

Jaune followed Pyrrha out to the balcony and I listened in on their conversation, hidden by darkness.

"Hey, Pyrrha." I heard Jaune say.

"Hello, Jaune." Pyrrha replied.

"I haven't seen you tonight."

"Arrived late, I'm afraid."

"Well you look really nice."

I smiled to myself. _Here it comes._

"Thank you." Pyrrha replied.

"Your date isn't going to beat me up for saying that is he?"

Uh oh. My smile faded.

"I think you're safe for tonight."

"So… where is the guy?"

"There is no guy."

"What?"

"Nobody asked me."

At this point I was so tempted to just reveal myself from the shadows and yell out "You're the one she likes! Just go and have a nice night!"

They continued conversing and Pyrrha even admitted to Jaune that he was the type of guy she wish she was here with when Pyrrha walked right past me and back into the ballroom. I waited for Jaune to say something, but only silence followed.

I sighed to myself and walked out on the balcony where my team leader had his head in his hands on the railing.

"So you're either stubborn or stupid." I stated as I approached him with my hands in my pockets.

"What?" Jaune asked, looking up from his position.

"Jaune, Pyrrha literally just poured her heart out to you and you did nothing. You wanna go ahead and tell me why?"

He took a deep breath before saying anything. "It's because I don't deserve her. She's Pyrrha Nikos and I'm just Jaune Arc. A dumb blonde kid who snuck his way into Beacon using fake transcripts."

I leaned my back against the railing. "So you think that just because of your status that you're not fit to take Pyrrha to the dance?" He nodded back. "Jaune, I just had a similar conversation with Neptune about Weiss. He decided to put his own pride ahead of her heart." Jaune's head jerked up at the news as I continued. "He thought that just because he couldn't dance that he should just go to the dance alone. Your situation with Pyrrha is no different. You seem to think that you should deny her happiness simply because you think that she can do better, but guess what? I've seen my fair share of dirtbags in this world and I think that **you're** the best she can do."

Jaune took a minute to digest the info I gave him. "Alright. I'll go talk to Pyrrha." He said with a smile.

"That's the spirit." I said as I slapped him on the back.

I headed back to my position on the railing and saw Yang and Ruby talking.

"Hey, Ruby. Yang." I nodded at them both as I leaned up against the railing.

"Hey, Joe." Ruby said in her normally cheery voice.

I smiled. "You seem to be feeling better."

Ruby nodded back at me. "I'm just happy that Blake came to the dance." She replied, gesturing down to Blake, who was now dancing alongside Sun.

 _That didn't take long._ I thought as I felt myself grinning.

"So where's your date, Joe?" I heard Yang say.

"Not here." I replied vaguely.

Yang gave me a quizzical look. "Is she in the restroom?"

I shook my head. "No. She's… away."

"And by away you either mean on vacation or on mission. But the only team on mission right now is team CFVY…" I saw Yang slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together in her head. "…Which means that your date is either Coco or Velvet and since I've seen Velvet hanging around you a fair bit before she left, I assume that it's her?" The blonde brawler asked with a smirk.

I sighed. _Here comes the endless teasing._ "Yes, I probably would've asked Velvet to the dance if she wasn't on mission." I stated.

Yang was about to say something else when her attention was diverted by several students laughing at something.

The three of us stopped and looked over the railing to see Jaune in a white dress walking towards Pyrrha.

"Well there's something you don't see everyday." Yang said, breaking the stunned silence between herself, Ruby and me.

My jaw dropped at the sight. "I just told him to go **talk** to Pyrrha, not to wear a freaking dress!" I accidentally blurted out.

Yang and Ruby looked at me, astonished.

"Oh, like you neither of you could plainly see that they belonged together!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ruby said while Yang just shrugged. I looked down at my teammates and felt my heart warm at the sight of Jaune and Pyrrha dancing in sync with Nora and Ren.

I looked around the rest of the ballroom and noticed Cinder dancing with Mercury. Despite her surroundings, Cinder looked sad compared to everyone else while Mercury held a smirk on his face as they talked.

 _Whatever, tonight's not about them, it's about relaxing._ I thought as I looked back at my teammates.

I spent the rest of the night talking with Sun, Neptune, team RWBY and my own teammates, not partaking in any of the dances, mainly because I only wanted to dance with Velvet.

With everyone thoroughly exhausted from the dance, my teammates and me were the first ones to call it a night at ten, mainly because the four of them looked they had just ran a marathon. Pyrrha even managed to fall asleep before we even got back to the room, making Jaune carry her bridal style while she held a small smile on her face.

I unlocked the door and held it open for Jaune with Pyrrha in his arms as he gently set her down in her bed, pulling the covers over her sleeping figure and bidding her goodnight.

I smiled at the sight as Ren and Nora walked in, showered, changed into their own sleepwear and went to bed.

I had just rolled out my sleeping bag when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned to face Jaune in his rabbit onesie with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Joe, I wanted to thank you for getting me to talk with Pyrrha."

I chuckled quietly, not wanting to wake the rest of the team. "It was no problem Jaune. Seeing you two together makes me think about what things might've been like between Denara and myself if she survived initiation." I said with a smile, remembering the beautiful face of the wolf-faunus.

Jaune's eyes held a look of sympathy within them. "How are you dealing with that by the way? If you don't mind my asking." He added the last part quickly.

I just smiled weakly at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Jaune, the three of them were my friends. I'll never get over their deaths, but I think that they'd want me to move on with my life." I said, as I looked him back in his deep blue eyes. "And I don't mind you asking me questions about them, just try not to make a habit of it." I declared.

I removed my hand from his shoulder as he nodded at me and went to bed.

 _You did good, Jaune._ I thought with a wide smile as I put my head down on my pillow.


	10. Missions

Today was the day we were going to be assigned missions. I slept quite soundly last night and I really didn't know whether to chalk it up to the adorable sight of seeing Jaune and Pyrrha together or the fact that Velvet had texted me that she was finally headed back to Beacon last night.

After breakfast, the five of us headed down to the amphitheater for our missions.

Since we were most likely going to encounter grimm no matter what mission we chose, I made a makeshift holster for Andrea's sword on my left hip. I didn't know how to use Dusk nearly as well as Andrea, but she said the sword's purpose was to kill grimm and I was determined to honor her wish. This was also the first opportunity I was able to wear the half-face mask that Jaune made for me.

JNPR and myself gathered and waited for Ozpin to give a speech.

"So what type of mission to you guys want to go on? Protection, search and destroy or shadowing policemen?" I asked beneath the mask.

Jaune shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me."

"Nora and myself would prefer to shadow the sheriff of a village close by." Ren stated.

I nodded. "What about you, Pyrrha?"

"So long as we perform our duties as huntsmen and huntresses in-training, I don't really have a preference." She replied.

"So then we're all comfortable with Ren and Nora's decision?" I asked the new couple. Jaune and Pyrrha both nodded back.

After a momentary lull in conversation, I decided to ask the question that had been in the back of my mind I knew Nora was dying to ask as well. "So Jaune, when's your first date with Pyrrha?"

The two of them blushed madly and Pyrrha looked down at the ground while Jaune struggled to maintain his composure.

"We don't know for sure yet, but I was thinking of a weekend when we're not on a mission." Jaune replied with a sheepish smile as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Pyrrha?" I asked the champion, who just nodded back in response. I smiled widely.

"Relax, guys. I'm just teasing you." I said with a laugh.

"I just can't believe that you took that long, Jauney!" Nora declared with a pout.

I laughed while Jaune and Pyrrha continued to blush and Ren just held his head in his hands and shook his head at his partner's outburst.

When our team leader and his partner regained their composure, we made idle chatter until team RWBY arrived and Ozpin finally made his speech.

We walked down the line of holographic boards until we found the one that Ren and Nora wanted. Jaune was about to enter our team name, but he paused.

"Jaune? What's up?" I asked.

"I don't know what to enter." He stated.

I looked at Pyrrha, confused. "Just enter our team name." The redhead said from behind him.

"But then if I do, then they might assume that it's only four students going on the mission, not five."

That was something that had never occurred to me. Since joining the team, the name had not changed from team JNPR.

"Well, what do we do?" I asked Jaune.

He looked around the amphitheater for a while until he apparently found what or whoever he was looking for. "Hang on a second." He said to the four of us as he walked towards Professor Ozpin.

We watched as the two conversed for a couple minutes, both of them occasionally looking in our direction, but most likely directly at me.

Jaune finally walked back with a smile on his face.

"So, what'd you ask him?" I inquired.

Jaune shrugged. "I just asked him if I needed to make any changes to entering our team name in the registry and he said I could if I wanted to." Jaune looked directly in my eyes as he continued to smile. "You realize what this means, Joe?"

I shook my head. "It means that we can officially add you in as a fifth team member on any documents that need our team name."

I smiled back as he explained it to me. "Jaune, that means a lot to me." I turned my gaze to my other teammates. "All of you have been extremely accepting of me. Including you, Nora, even if we did get off on the wrong foot."

"Not a problem." She replied with a wide smile.

I nodded back at her. "But I think that it would be better if you kept the team name as it was. It's just easier that way." I said looking back at Jaune, who nodded and put team JNPR down for shadowing the sheriff.

I sighed, satisfied. "So, what do we do in the meantime?" I asked.

"I'll go pack some stuff and get everything arranged properly. I might need your help Nora, giving how much stuff we'll probably need."

Our bubbly Grenadier nodded and followed Jaune back to the dorm.

I turned to my other two teammates. "How do you guys feel about helping me out with some training?"

Ren nodded while Pyrrha held a confused expression on her face.

"I didn't think you'd want combat training giving how well you've performed in Goodwitch's class." She stated.

I took a deep breath before talking again. "It's not actually **combat** training that I want. I want help with my semblance and you guys seem like the best ones to ask about it."

"Why?" Ren asked with crossed arms.

"From what I understand, my semblance only activates when I'm extremely angry or in a dire situation and I need your help to control those emotions and Pyrrha's help with how to call on it when I need it."

I went on to explain what happened when Ozpin saw me training in the gym and I showed them both the video footage that the headmaster sent me of myself growing in height as a hit the punching bag.

They both looked at me curiously as Ren handed me back my scroll. "And you say that you didn't feel yourself grow stronger?" He asked.

"No, I just saw the punching bag get smaller as I got more and more angry." I replied.

The stoic nodded at me while Pyrrha continued to look at me.

"I'm sorry Joe, but I don't think that I can be of any help in this situation." She said regretfully.

I nodded back. "It's alright, Pyrrha. Ren, any advice?"

"I think that it's all a matter of conditioning your senses. You said that it only happened when you got angry, correct?" I nodded. "Then with practice, if you do it enough times, you should be able to grow without anger, when you are completely calm."

I smiled widely at Ren. "Thanks. I think that we should start it when we're done our mission though, we have enough worries as it is."

"That would most likely be for the best." Pyrrha interjected.

After wandering around for a short while to see what some of the exchange students chose for their missions, Jaune and Nora met the three of us in front of the amphitheater.

Jaune told us that everything was all set up and all we needed to do was to pack up our own clothes and anything else we might've needed for the mission and we'd be good to go when he recognized Ruby talking with Doctor Oobleck near an airship.

"They can't be going on mission already, can they?" I asked doubtful.

"Let's go ask and find out." said. Ren.

As we approached the four girls from behind, they all suddenly slumped over when Ruby said that they were going to quote: "Save the world with Doctor Oobleck."

 _From what? I guess they can only save the world from Oobleck, not with him._ I thought with a suppressed smile.

"Save the world?!" Nora cried out. "You're going on world-saving missions with out us?! I'm hurt, sad, maybe a little hungry?" Her stomach grumbled "That last one's not your fault though, Ren." She glared at her partner.

I face-palmed. "Nora, we just had breakfast like, two hours ago." I pointed out.

"Sounds exciting, where you going?" Jaune asked Ruby, ignoring Nora and myself.

"Just outside the kingdom." The little reaper replied.

"Hey, so are we!" Nora said cheerily.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha explained.

I crossed my arms. "I wanted to go on a more aggressive mission, but I guess that following a sheriff around all day can't be all bad."

Sun and Neptune suddenly appeared from nowhere and jumped in between our teams.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" Neptune declared. "We're shadowing crime specialists. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges."

Jaune immediately went into complete fan-boy mode over at Neptune's news.

"We usually go to the city with you guys, which means stuff always exploding and junk." Sun added.

 _Why is Jaune so… wait, what? Exploding?_ I thought as my cousin's statement shook me out of my stupor.

"What does that mean, Sun?" I asked him.

He chuckled nervously. "Well, I could ask you what's with the mask. You planning a robbery or something?"

I sighed. "It's my way of remembering two of my friends." I replied. He nodded back in understanding, dropping the subject.

"Four minutes, ladies!" I heard Oobleck yell from team RWBY's airship.

Ruby looked even more dejected than when she heard Blake wasn't going to the dance. "Well, wish us luck." Ruby said.

"Yeah, and Weiss!" Neptune called to the heiress as her team turned away to leave. "Be careful." I heard Neptune say with an unusual tone of worry.

Just as we left to let team RWBY begin their mission, I heard Yang call my name before she boarded the airship.

"Hey Joe!" She yelled. I turned around. "Velvet's back!"

I couldn't see the expression on her face definitively, but I was ninety-five percent sure that she had the biggest smirk.

I quickly turned back around, sprinted past my teammates and made for team CFVY's dorm.


	11. Hanging Out

_Why the hell couldn't she have told me that when she first saw me?_ I though exasperatedly. Arriving at the doorway to their room, I knocked and waited until someone answered it, then I remembered that I was wearing the mask that Jaune made and I decided to take it off and just keep it at my side for the moment.

Thankfully, that someone who answered the door was Velvet, wearing what I assumed was her combat gear. I grinned widely at her and held out my arms for a hug, which she immediately stepped into with a smile.

"I'm so glad that you're back." I said over her shoulder.

"It's good to see you too, Joe." I heard her reply.

I released her from the embrace. "So what took you guys so long?" I asked.

She continued smiling. "It's no big deal, we just ran into more grimm than we'd anticipated."

"That's probably why you weren't able to get back to me then." I thought aloud.

She nodded back. "By the way, I heard that all first-year students are going on missions soon. Does your team have yours planned out yet?"

"Yeah, Jaune actually took care of the planning and laying everything out. All the rest of us have to do is pack up." I felt my smile fade as I realized what I was about to say. "So that means that I'll be off Beacon grounds for a few days and we won't get a chance to catch up."

Her smile faded as well. "That's a shame. I would've liked to have a chance to talk to you as soon as possible."

My smile returned as I thought of an idea. "Well, since we're actually not leaving until tomorrow morning, how about I introduce you to my teammates tonight and we can talk then?" I offered.

Her smile returned, but her body language suggested that she was somewhat nervous.

"That sounds great. Just let me shower and change."

I nodded back. "I'll wait out here."

"Actually, I think that Fox wants to talk to you." She said, walking into her dorm. I followed behind her, confused as to why he'd want to speak with me.

As I entered the room, I saw Coco already lying down on her bed, looking like she was about to fall asleep, Yatsuhashi cooking for himself in the kitchen and Fox reading his Braille book at his desk, all of them wearing the clothes when Velvet first introduced me to them.

Velvet went over to her dresser, picked out a pair of blue jeans, a black t-shirt and a light brown hoodie with her symbol emblazoned over the left breast and headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

"Hey Fox." I started awkwardly. "Velvet said that…"

"I know what you guys said to each other. Better hearing, remember, being blind and all?" He asked rhetorically as he turned around in his chair to face me and pointed to his white eyes.

"Right." I heard water flowing from the shower in the bathroom.

"So about our match." He started.

I groaned inwardly. _Shit, I completely forgot about that._

"I guess we'll have to wait until you're done with your mission, when you're rested and ready. Not to mention we've got to have one of the Professors oversee it."

I crossed my arms and leaned up against an empty wall. "Did you have a particular Professor in mind?"

He shook his head. "Goodwitch was the first to come to mind, but she doesn't like me too much."

I chuckled lightly. "Yeah, after that incident with Cardin I think I'm on her bad side too."

"And I think that if we asked Port, he'd just go on one of his typical story telling-rants." Fox said tiredly.

"Dr. Oobleck's on a mission with team RWBY right now, so he's out." I supplied.

"And Professor Peach is never around." He added.

We both thought in silence for a while when another voice chimed in.

"What about Ozpin?" Coco said from her position on her bed.

"What about him?" Fox inquired with his team leader.

"Get him to oversee the fight."

I looked at the two second-years, confused. "And you don't think that he'll have a problem with a second-year student fighting a first-year?" I asked the two of them.

Coco shook her head. "Naw, when you're a first year student, you see Ozpin as this big boss man who doesn't let anything slide. But when you're a second year, you go on to see him as more of a friend. He'll do a favor for you, and he'll expect a favor from you somewhere down the line." She explained.

Fox nodded. "Okay then, we'll get Ozpin to oversee our fight once you're rested from your mission." He addressed me.

I nodded back at him as I heard the water from the shower stop.

"Oh and one more thing Joe." Fox said as he looked directly in my eyes and stood up from his chair, making me notice that he was a few inches taller.

"Velvet seems to be taking to you easier than she takes to others." He said in a hushed tone. "When we were first years, she was pretty nervous around us and it took her about three weeks for her to fully warm up to us. But apparently, she seems to have had no problem talking with you." He looked over to see Velvet emerging from the bathroom wearing her casual clothes. Fox turned back to me. "So any friend of Velvet's is a friend of ours." He said with a smile.

I had a feeling he was going to talk about something else before Velvet came out of the shower, but I had no idea what.

"All right then, thanks…I guess." I said awkwardly. I turned my attention to Velvet. "Ready to go?"

She nodded back at me with that ever-adorable smile.

"See ya, Velv." Coco called to her teammate.

Velvet bid her leader goodbye and I pulled out my scroll asking Jaune if it was all right with him if I introduced Velvet to the team.

He came back seconds later with a text saying that if I wanted to, I could bring her to the dorm for a movie night starting at six with our team along with Sun and Neptune.

I showed the conversation to Velvet as we walked down the empty hallway. "You up for a movie?"

She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

I smiled and shot Jaune a text saying that we'd both be going and I looked at the time. 10:23 AM.

"So we've got about eight hours to kill, what do you want to do until then?" I asked her as I put my scroll in my pocket.

"I don't know, want do you want to do?" She replied.

"That's just it, I don't know what I want to do." I said.

We went back and forth like this for a while until we found ourselves in front of the doors to the cafeteria at lunchtime. We ended up killing a few hours just eating and talking with each other, learning more about one another.

I eventually told her about Andrea, Denara and Elias, the nightmares that surfaced since initiation day and why I had Jaune make the mask for me. I expected her to give me another speech along the lines of 'there's nothing you could've done' or 'it wasn't your fault' but instead, she just gave me a hug, which I found was the one thing that I really needed.

After that awkwardly depressing moment, we continued to talk back and forth, with her telling me what her first year at Beacon was like and all the hatred she had to put up with during her time until she was on a team with Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi. It turns out, all three of them were just as protective of her back then as they were now, sending out a clear message throughout Beacon: 'Never mess with Velvet Scarlatina.'

"I guess Cardin didn't get the memo, did he?" I asked her.

She shook her head and her rabbit ears drooped slightly. "Some people are just like that, I guess."

I gave her a quick hug and looked up at one of the many clocks on the wall of the large cafeteria.

"Hey, it's just about five-fifteen. Do you want to start heading down to meet my teammates?"

She nodded. "Let's go." We got up from our seats and I led her down to team JNPR's dorm, where I walked in to see Sun, Jaune, Pyrrha and Neptune setting up for the movie, with Jaune and Pyrrha's beds pushed together and four beanbag chairs strewn around the floor as well as a projector aimed towards an empty wall.

I cleared my throat to get their attention. "Hey guys, this is Velvet." They all gave smiles and nods. "Velvet, this is my cousin Sun, his teammate Neptune, my team leader Jaune and his partner, Pyrrha." I pointed to each of them accordingly as I called out their names. "Where are Ren and Nora?" I asked Jaune.

"Nora being Nora decided that we didn't have enough popcorn for the seven of us and she went into Vale to get a bigger bag while Ren went along with her to keep her contained."

I shook my head and smiled at our bubbly teammate's attitude. _Classic Nora._

"Nora being Nora?" Velvet whispered to me, clearly confused.

I smiled back. "She can be a little bit…"

"Eccentric?" Jaune supplied.

"Hyper?" Pyrrha offered.

"Either, both, it doesn't matter. Point is, she's Nora. You kind of have to meet her to understand her." I replied back to Velvet. "Ren is the fuse that just never ends, keeping her from literally and figuratively exploding."

Velvet looked slightly alarmed at the statement, and Jaune took notice. "Don't worry though, she's nice, she just has a habit of sometimes taking things a little too far."

 _Thanks for the save, Jaune._ I silently thanked my team leader.

While Jaune and Pyrrha continued to converse with Velvet, I noticed that what Fox said was indeed true. She was standing closer to me than usual, most likely still nervous about meeting new people. Not that I was complaining, mind you.

Seconds later, Nora sprinted through the doorway with what was probably the largest bag of popcorn known to man, probably about half the height of the door and just as wide in hand with an exhausted Ren trailing behind.

I sighed as I looked at the size of the enormous bag. "What happened to keeping her contained, Ren?" I asked.

After catching his breath, he pointed to the large bag of popcorn. " **That** was actually a compromise. She was going to get a bigger one, but I barely managed to persuade her to buy this one instead."

Nora normally wasn't the negotiating type and there was only one thing Ren had that she wanted.

"You promised to make pancakes tomorrow, didn't you?" Jaune said, speaking my thoughts. Ren just nodded, exasperated while Nora grinned widely.

I looked towards Sun. "Anyways, what movie are we watching?"

My cousin walked towards my desk and picked up two movies. In his left hand looked to be a comedy and the one in his right was the new Spruce Willis movie. "Me and Neptune couldn't compromise, so we decided to bring our own favourites."

I knew that the comedy was Sun's since I had seen we had both seen it several times in our younger years. "Huh. Never figured you for the action movie type, Neptune." I said.

He shrugged. "The series is pretty good, and I think the actor does a good job."

"So which one do we watch first?" Pyrrha asked.

"Put it to a vote?" Jaune offered.

Sun nodded at him. "Okay, all for the Spruce Willis movie?" My hand, as well as Jaune's, Nora's, Neptune's and Velvet's all shot up in unison, quickly ending the vote.

I looked at Velvet as Sun put the movie in the projector and Nora handed out bowls of popcorn and a can of 'people like grapes' soda for each of us.

"Didn't figure you for an action movie fan either." I said to Velvet as she took her seat in one of the beanbag chairs.

She smiled back. "Appearances can be deceiving." She said. "That, and I'm also a big Spruce Willis fan."

I chuckled as everyone else took their seats while I rolled out my sleeping bag to serve as a comfortable surface to lie on, rather than the floor.

"You know, we could trade places if you want." Velvet said as I sat on my sleeping bag.

I shook my head. "It's alright Velvet, you're our guest and I sleep like this every night, so it really doesn't make a difference to me."

She was about to object further when the movie started. It was a typical Spruce Willis movie, loaded with explosions, gunfire and all around baddass-ery. The movie lasted two hours and Sun put his favourite film in the projector. Even though we'd both seen it several times, we both laughed every time we watched it. The movie was about a navy commander who was finally permitted to have command over his own submarine, only to end up with a crew that was far from normal, featuring a sonar operator with extreme hearing, despite that not being his semblance, an electrician who soaked up electricity like Nora because it was fun and an engineman with a smartass attitude.

By the time we finished both movies, it was close to ten o' clock and everyone was fairly tired. We thanked Sun and Neptune and they bid us all a good night, leaving for their own dorm and taking their beanbag chairs with them.

"So, what'd you think about Sun's movie?" I asked Velvet as I put my popcorn bowl in the sink to be washed later.

She smiled back. "It definitely had its moments. I especially liked the part where the electrician was testing the wires." She said with a laugh.

I laughed with her. "Yeah, Nitro's one insane character." I opened my arms for a hug, which she gladly stepped into and returned.

"Goodnight Velvet." I said as I released her from the hug.

She gave me another cute smile. "Goodnight Joe." She started to head out the door and reached into her right jeans pocket and stopped in her tracks. I saw her reach into her left pocket, both of her hoodie pockets and she patted herself down, clearly looking for something.

"What's up?" I asked curiously.

She turned around with a look of embarrassment on her face. "I may have misplaced my scroll and I can't unlock my dorm without it. Do you think you could call it for me in case I forgot it in here somewhere?"

I nodded back and pulled my own scroll out of my right pocket and phoned Velvet's number. We both waited to hear a ringing in the dorm, but only silence answered. I dialled Velvet's number again and again, but heard nothing.

She facepalmed. "I must've left it in my room then."

"Do you want to phone your teammates then?"

"No." She said sadly. "They're all heavy sleepers and if they didn't hear my scroll ring the times that you called, then there's no chance that they'll hear theirs go off."

I thought for a moment. "How about you just spend the night here then?"

She looked at me with those beautiful brown eyes. "A-are you s-sure that your team wouldn't mind?" She stuttered out.

I smiled back. "Just watch." I turned back into the dorm. "Hey Jaune!" I called.

"Yeah?" He answered from the kitchen.

"Velvet's locked out of her dorm, is it all right with you if she stays here tonight?"

Jaune left entered my vision from the kitchen with a smile. "Yeah, no problem. We'll make room for you." He then re-entered the kitchen.

We made preparations so that Velvet would take Ren's bed, Ren would take my sleeping bag and I'd just sleep in my desk chair, despite Ren's insistence that I take my sleeping bag. Jaune and Pyrrha decided to keep their beds together for that night and were cuddling each other with smiled plastered on each others faces before I went to sleep, using one of my bigger hoodies as a blanket as I as sat in my desk chair.

Someone murmuring something woke me in the middle of the night. Groggily, I opened my eyes and looked to see who it was. Pyrrha and Jaune's figures were slowly breathing in the night, Nora was snoring quieter than usual, and Ren was completely silent. _No different than when he's awake_. I thought with a smile. But when I looked over at Velvet resting in Ren's bed, she tossed and turned, mumbling something as she did so.

I immediately got out of my chair as quietly as I could and crouched next to her.

 _If she's having a nightmare that's anything like the ones that I've been having, I have to wake her up._ I thought.

"Velvet." I whispered. She continued to turn in her sleep. Now that I was closer to her and my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I could see she had a frown on her face. "Velvet." I said a little louder as I gently shook her shoulder. Still no response as she turned away from me. "Velvet!" I whisper-shouted and shook her shoulder harder. This time, she sat bolt upright in the bed and was breathing hard.

"Hey, it's alright, it was just a dream." I said calmingly and quietly as I could.

She put on hand over her heart and another over her forehead to wipe away a little bit of sweat that had accumulated. After a few minutes of taking her time to regulate her breathing she looked at me crouching on the left side of the bed and hugged me.

I didn't question it and merely hugged her back. "It was just a bad dream." I repeated.

"How-how did you know?" She whispered from over my shoulder. I pulled away from the hug and looked her in the eyes.

"I've had more than my fair share of nightmares, believe me. Jaune told me what it I looked like when I was having one and now I know."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry for waking you, Joe. I'll go back to sleep."

I just shook my head. "You say that, but I know that you won't be able to." I spoke from experience.

"I-I guess you're right. So what did you do to go back to sleep?" She asked me.

"Never could. If I'm being honest, my sleep habits only got better after I talked with you." Velvet smiled slightly and I noticed a light blush on her cheeks. "So do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

She nodded and moved over to make space for me in Ren's bed. Tentatively, I lied next to her on top of the sheets, which were much more comfortable than my sleeping bag.

"So what was the dream about?" I asked.

She went into detail about the nighttime horror as I learned that when her team was on mission, they had a close call with a horde of grimm. The nightmare was a variation of what might've happened if her teammates had been killed.

During her recollection, she had started crying. I felt bad for her so I just decided to hold her. I put an arm around her waist and she leaned her head into my chest, letting the tears flow, staining my t-shirt. Exhaustion must've caught up with her from her mission, as she was soon asleep in my arms. I tried to make her more comfortable by removing my gauntlets and putting them on Ren's nightstand. Eventually, I decided to just leave her where she was and found myself quickly asleep shortly after.

(AN: the comedy movie I was referring to earlier is an actual movie called "Down Periscope" starring Kelsey Grammer. I might not have described it very well, but if you've never seen it before, it's actually pretty funny.)


	12. Deployed

I awoke the next morning to the delicious smell of Ren's pancakes. On reflex, my mouth started watering and I took in my surroundings. I noticed a few odd things about this morning though, the first thing out of the ordinary being that I was off the floor, in a bed.

 _Okay, unusual but nothing to be worried about._ I thought. The second thing to catch my attention was the fact that Castor and Pollux were on Ren's nightstand and not on my arms.

 _Why would I put them there?_ The last detail definitely got my attention though. I looked to my right to see Velvet's head lying on my chest, her small figure rising and falling slowly as she breathed.

 _Well. That's…different._ I slowly got out of bed and tried to leave Velvet as she was. She started to stir and let out a barely audible groan as I slid my chest out from underneath her head. I got out of the bed and looked back at her, the rabbit faunus sleeping soundly with a small smile on her face. I brushed a lock of her long brown hair out of her eyes, behind her ear, clamped Castor and Pollux on my arms and got up and went to the kitchen to see if I could help out our resident chef extraordinaire.

"Morning Ren." I greeted the lotus ninja as he flipped another finished pancake onto a plate with expert practice.

"Morning. I trust that you didn't defile my bed last night?" He asked bluntly.

I felt my cheeks heat up like they were on fire. "No, are you kidding!?" I yelled as quietly as I could, trying to keep my voice down.

He smirked at me. "Relax, Joe. I was kidding. I heard you and Velvet talking last night."

I breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt the heat on my face. "Sorry we woke you then."

Ren shook his head. "You didn't wake me. What **did** wake me was Jaune getting a call on his scroll. I couldn't see who it was from the sleeping bag. Speaking of which, we should be heading out soon, so can you wake up the rest of the team?"

I nodded and proceeded to rouse the rest of my teammates. Jaune was easy to wake up, I just had to tap him on the shoulder and he almost bounced out of bed from shock. I left him to wake up his partner and I went to work trying to shake Nora out of her comatose-like state. After shaking her shoulder and calling her name, I remembered the secret Ren told me for waking the hammer-wielder.

"Ren made pancakes." I whispered incredibly quietly. Nora was a literal pink blur as she leaped out of bed, showered, changed into her regular combat gear and grabbed a plate of the pancakes that Ren had already prepared for her.

I'm surprised she didn't break the sound barrier at the speed she was moving. I moved to grab a plate for myself when I shifted my gaze to a sleeping Velvet.

 _I'm not going to be seeing her for a while, so I should probably wake her._ I thought as I moved to wake her in the same fashion as last night.

She yawned and sat up from her position in the bed.

"Hi" I said with a wide smile and a wave.

"Hi." She replied, returning the smile. After taking in her surroundings she spoke again. "What's that incredible smell?"

"Ren's pancakes. You want some?"

She nodded. "Please."

I got up and grabbed two plates of the magnificent food glazed with syrup, along with a couple forks. I handed a plate and fork to Velvet and I sat in my desk chair as the six of us ate.

As Velvet ate, I could see her mood brighten significantly as she appeared to recall the memories of last night. The breakfast was short and my four teammates had already headed down to the lockers to grab their gear and ready themselves for the mission. I hung back to see Velvet on her way and to lock the dorm.

"Hey, Joe?" I heard her call me from the hallway.

I closed the door and locked it. "Yeah?"

"I-I just want to say thanks for the talk last night." She said with her gaze to the floor.

"Hey, it's no problem. I'm just happy that you were able to get back to sleep." I said with a smile.

She returned the smile and gave me a peck on the cheek. "Good luck on your mission!" I heard her call as she made her way back to her dorm.

 _That was…different._ I thought in stunned silence. Thankfully, a voice in the back of my mind reminded me that I still had to grab the rest of my equipment from the locker room.

After a short sprint down the hallway, I regrouped with my teammates just as they were headed for the airship.

"Team RWBY has always performed well in the field. We should be focusing on our own mission." I heard Ren say to Jaune.

"We're gonna be deputies!" Nora said ecstatically.

"Hey, what's up, what're we talking about?" I asked Jaune as I adjusted my left shoulder pauldron.

He looked at me slightly worried. "I got a call from Ruby last night, but it was nothing but static. I'm worried that something might've happened."

I sighed. "Pyrrha, your boyfriend's a worry wart." She blushed at the mention of Jaune being her boyfriend and I smirked.

"But seriously Jaune, do you really think you need to worry when…"

I was cut off by the distant sounds of alarms in the city. A second later, the alarms sounded at Beacon.

"We're changing our mission, everyone onto the ship!" Jaune ordered. We all filed onto the airship and waited as the pilot took off.

"Still think I'm a worry wart!?" Jaune yelled at me as he hung on to the metal bar of the airship.

I just shook my head. There was no way he was going to be able to hear me beneath my mask, as well as the wind and sirens.

The pilot took a quick look back at us. "LZ's too hot and nevermores are closing in! Gotta drop you a ways away from the combat zone!"

The five of us looked out of the open doorway to see team RWBY fighting every type of grimm from creeps to a king taijitu near a huge hole in the middle of one of the streets.

The pilot continued to fly us away from where they were fighting and he dropped us off on the rooftop of a building about half a kilometre away.

We moved from building to building, taking long leaps between the tops of the buildings, moving as fast as possible. Suddenly, I heard the familiar sound of Magnhild being fired from behind me.

Another half second later, Nora zoomed past the rest of us with her hammer in hand, firing the grenades and keeping up her momentum.

"We should probably hurry up before she goes overboard." Pyrrha said concerned.

We picked up our pace and soon regrouped with Nora at the scene of the fighting.

"Let's move!" Pyrrha declared.

This is gonna be good. I thought. We all split off in an effort to keep the grimm focused on us and not the civilians.

I noticed a dozen creeps chasing after a few people and fired a few grenades at them, catching their attention. Five of them died when the explosives hit while the rest turned to face me and let loose an ear-piercing screech.

The lizards ran at me with their unusual legs and I charged right back, extending my blades, aiming for their unprotected chests and legs. The first one I kicked in the jaw, sending it flying upwards and I jumped to delve my right blade through its stomach. When I landed, two others leapt at me and I dodged to the right, severing one of the creature's legs leaving it bleeding out on the concrete ground. Its friend recovered and made to bite me and I dodged again, but maintained a close distance to it. The creep's head was oriented to the side and I took the opportunity to snap its neck. With a swift twist of the lower jaw and back of its head, I heard a loud crack and the beast's body dropped lifeless. Another creep jumped on my back when I wasn't looking and managed to dig its claws into my left shoulder.

My armor shielded me from the part of the attack but my aura took a hit and I still had full function as I rolled myself over on my back and put both my blades through its chest. I retracted them both from the corpse and shoved it off of me as I got up. The remaining three flanked me and I lunged forward with my blades as I stuck the one in front of me like a pig on a roast. Turning around, I retracted the blades again and finished the other two off with grenades.

Breathing heavily, I checked around to see how everyone else was doing. Nora was completely annihilating everything that crossed her path, so no problems there. Ren was moving so fast I could barely keep track of him while Pyrrha killed creature after creature, none of them even coming close to scoring a hit. My gaze shifted to our team leader slashing at the unprotected belly of an ursa, killing it quickly.

I felt myself smiling. _Not bad, Jaune_. I heard the roar of another airship's engines and I looked up to see reinforcements arriving.

The ship hovered overtop of the combat zone for a second and out jumped the four familiar faces of team CFVY. I watched as Velvet and Fox sprinted forward towards a couple of beowolves while Coco just strode forward as if she was on a shopping trip and Yatsuhashi just stood where he landed, looking around him at the half-dozen wolf-grimm that surrounded him.

Quickly panicking, I extended my blades and started running forward, only to see him unsheathe the massive greatsword strapped across his back and slam it to the ground, leaving a crater and sending out a massive shockwave last that sent every single one of the surrounding grimm flying backwards against the buildings, killing them the instant they connected.

I heard a roar and turned to see a boarbatusk rolling up into a ball, taking a spinning charge at me. I backed up against the wall of a nearby building and let it hit the hard surface, dazing itself and leaving the underside unprotected as I put my left blade into it's throat, black blood flowing from the wound.

I looked back at Yatsuhashi. Well that's new. I looked to see if Velvet was okay and saw the rabbit faunus fighting off a beowolf with nothing but her feet and bare hands, kicking it in the jaw and delivering punches left and right.

I ran forward to go help her, only to be hit by the massive paw of a beowolf that had run up beside me to take advantage of my tunnel vision. After flying through the air and through the glass window of a nearby store where a couple more civilians were hiding, I pulled myself up off the ground.

"Stay here and don't move." I ordered. The man and woman taking cover behind the counter merely nodded at me. I ran back out the door and I guess that my semblance must've activated because when I got back to my attacker, it was the same size I was. _Even playing field_. I thought as it took another swipe at me with its left paw. I held up my right hand to block the attack, but I had a lot of trouble holding its paw in place. Quickly, I delved my left blade into its wrist and twisted, damaging the nerves in its arm and immobilizing the limb. The beowolf howled in pain and backed up, leaving me with the prime opportunity to finish it. I retracted both my gauntlet blades and unsheathed Dusk, the morning light reflecting off it brightly as I effortlessly decapitated the creature with a single slash.

 _Huh. Andrea always did like to keep this thing sharp as possible._ I mused to myself. After taking a small breather and sheathing the sword, I looked back to team CFVY.

Fox looked to be holding his own against the beowolf next to Velvet and I saw him look around quickly before his eyes landed on an ursa major in the middle of a group of creeps. I thought I saw him smirk as the bear-grimm and himself charged each other and Fox slashed its stomach several times with his bladed weapons before kicking it up into the air and just before the beast landed, punched it directly in the skull, sending it flying backwards. Next thing I knew, the ursa major was blowing up like a balloon and it exploded, sending the spikes on its back flying in every direction, including at his teammates. Coco was still calm as ever as the spikes barely missed her and Velvet took cover behind her giant of a teammate as he shielded both himself and her as he lifted his left arm to protect himself.

One of the spikes nearly hit me in the face, and I barely managed to cross my gauntlets to block the projectile. I looked around for any more civilians in danger, finding nothing and decided to focus on eliminating the threat.

 _Well, I_ _ **did**_ _want more of an aggressive mission._ I thought exhaustedly. I regrouped with my own team and we made quick work of a few more of the larger grimm until I heard the rapid firing of an automatic weapon. I looked around to see the leader of team CFVY with a minigun in hand, shredding beowolves, deathstalkers and a flock of nevermores.

Next thing I knew, the Atlesian military showed up, dropping off their new AK-200s with assault rifles and mopping up any leftover creatures of grimm.

Within a few minutes after the military arrived, the hole in the street was closed, no more grimm were seen and the remaining civilians were safe.

As a guy wearing a bowler hat and a white suit was being taken into military custody, our three teams convened and took a moment to relax.

I turned to team RWBY. "How did you guys get here so fast?" I asked.

Ruby scuffed the ground with her boot while Yang answered for her sister. "We were tracking a criminal related to the White Fang and he ended up ramming the train we were on straight into the end of a tunnel."

I was too tired to even bother questioning further. I turned to Velvet while the rest of her teammates conversed with each other and she looked at me with curious eyes. "Is that you, Joe?" She asked.

I was confused at first, then remembered that she had never seen me with my mask on. I removed the extra armor and smiled at her. "Hell of a morning, eh?"

She chuckled at the statement. "Yeah, I guess it has."

I opened my mouth to speak again, only to be interrupted by Fox calling my name.

I looked at the red and brown clad fighter. "Yeah?"

"Just wanted to tell you to get some rest and don't forget about our match this Thursday." He said with a smirk.

I laughed. "So long as you're not a sore loser, I'm looking forward to it." He nodded back with that smirk on his face and returned to talking with Coco and Yatsuhashi.

"Anyway, Velvet." I said returning my gaze back to the rabbit faunus. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to just … I don't know, hang out sometime?" I said nervously.

 _FOR OUM'S SAKE MAN! GROW A PAIR AND ASK HER OUT ALREADY!_ I chastised myself.

She blushed deeply and looked as nervous as I felt. "Y-you mean l-like on a date?" she asked quietly.

"Uh- yeah. I guess what I meant to say is: would you like to go out with me?" I repeated, scratching the back of my neck out of anxiousness. She looked at her feet and blushed even harder. "I'll understand if you don't want to." I added quickly.

She looked up from the ground and back at me. "N-no! It's alright, I-I-I wouldn't mind going out with you, Joe." She stuttered out.

I felt myself blush as Velvet said that. "Okay then, great!" I said excitedly. "But it'll probably have to wait until after my match with Fox."

Velvet smiled back. "Yeah, I think that sparring with you is something that he's been waiting to do for quite a while now."

We spent probably the next ten minutes trying to work out a good day for both of us when we finally agreed to just wing it. I let her go back to her team and I regrouped with mine, walking up to see Pyrrha giving Jaune a big hug as he smiled widely, returning the embrace.

"Don't you say that you're not strong enough ever again, Jaune Arc." I heard Pyrrha say over her partner's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Pyr. I won't." He replied as he released his girlfriend.

I turned to Ren and Nora. "Sorry we didn't go to that village, guys."

Ren just shrugged. "Another time." He said as he put a comforting arm around his partner's shoulders.

After the Professors had secured the area and sounded the all clear, all of us took an airship back to Beacon, where we would be allowed to have the rest of the week off.

During the short ride back, Fox and myself played rock, paper, scissors for who would have to ask Ozpin to oversee our sparring match. Of course with my luck, I lost and told my future opponent that I'd talk to the headmaster as soon as possible and we decided to start the fight at noon.

I sat back in my seat next to my teammates. "So… you guys excited for the Vytal Festival?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm excited!" Nora replied.

"What she really means is that she's excited more so than usual." Jaune corrected her.

Ren looked to be stifling a laugh at the comment about our energetic teammate.

"How about you, Ren?"

He nodded. "I would like a chance to test myself in the tournament." He stated plainly.

 _Absolutely exploding with ecstasy_. "And you two?" I addressed Jaune and Pyrrha.

"This tournament will be significantly more interesting than the previous smaller ones I've participated in." Pyrrha said with a smile.

I smiled back. _Yeah, four time winner of Mistral's regional tournament, its not like she's ever gone through this before._ I thought sarcastically. "And you, Jaune?"

He gave me a weak smile. "It's going to be interesting, that's for sure."

I gave him a confused look. "Something wrong?"

He quickly shook his head. "No, not at all. Just a little tired." He stated.

I decided to let him rest and put my head back against the seat as we docked at Beacon.

The rest of my day was spent getting ready for the fight with Fox as I restocked my gauntlets with grenades, sharpened and cleaned the blades and hit the gym for a little exercise.

When I got back to my dorm after dinner, I noticed that Jaune and Pyrrha's beds were pushed together in the corner of the room, with Jaune sitting on the two combined beds reading an X-ray and Vav comic.

"You and Pyrrha aren't planning on having sex, are you, Jaune?" I asked as I set my duffle bag next to my sleeping bag.

I saw my leader's face turn beet red as he put down the comic on his nightstand. "No." He replied. "We were actually thinking that since you've been with our team for so long, it's only fair that you get a bed, same as the rest of us and we needed some space for it, so we decided that we should push our beds together in order to make room for yours."

I sighed. "Jaune, we went through this on day one. I'm perfectly fine on the floor. And besides, how are we going to get another bed? Build one?" I asked.

"Actually, I sent a text to Headmaster Ozpin asking if we could buy one for you. And even he agreed that it would be much better for you and that he was willing to pay for it." He finished with a smile and his face returning to its regular color.

I didn't know what to say. This guy who I had yelled at just because I was pissed off on initiation day was willing to go out of his way to make me comfortable.

"Wow… that-that's really generous of you, Jaune. Thanks." I said dumbfounded.

He smiled and waved me off. "No problem. It sounds like your bed should be here by the weekend." His smile subsided as I sat down in my desk and took out my books to get a little bit of studying done. "Uh… hey, Joe?" He said quietly, almost like he was ashamed.

I turned to face him. "Yeah, what's up?" I asked.

He took a deep breath. "I-I think that you should take my place in the Vytal Festival tournament."

I sat down in my desk chair. "Why?" I calmly asked.

He looked at me slightly surprised, like I was supposed to know the answer. "Because I'm probably the worst fighter at Beacon and we'd probably win if you were there instead of me?" He said in a confused tone of voice.

"You **do** realize that that's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard anyone say ever, right?" I replied calmly.

"Oh, and why not? Replace a crappy fighter with a better one, why is that so stupid to you?" He was frustrated now.

"Probably for three very important reasons." I said with crossed arms as I leaned back in my chair. "The first one being that if memory serves you right, I'm not an original member of team JNPR, whereas you are the team leader."

"But that really doesn't matter…"

"The second reason," I cut him off. "Is that when I was first assigned to team JNPR, you welcomed me with open arms, despite the fact that I lost my shit at you when you didn't deserve it. So I would feel incredibly bad if I took your spot in the tournament when you deserve it with all your hard work and training with Pyrrha."

He just nodded back. "What's the last reason?"

I smiled inwardly. _He's beginning to understand, so that's something._ "A team needs their leader in a combat situation, whether it's just a tournament or not. If I took your place, I wouldn't know how to direct everyone, I don't know their strengths and weaknesses whereas you do." I finished.

Jaune just looked at the ceiling as he digested what I said. After a few moments of silence, he took a deep breath.

"Alright Joe, if you really think that I should participate in the tournament, I will." He said as he gave me a friendly smile.

I nodded and returned the smile. "Good. Just don't doubt yourself again or else I'll tell Pyrrha and she'll beat any more self-doubt out of you."

He laughed and returned to his comic. "Thanks Joe, I'll try and remember that."

It was still a little bit early, around quarter after seven in the afternoon, but the day's events were catching up with me as I felt my eyelids droop. I hit the shower, changed into my regular cyan shorts and light blue t-shirt that served as my pajamas, and went to sleep.


	13. Fight!

I woke up the next morning, rested and ready for the day. Again, I had no nightmares last night, probably due to the fact that I was still giddy from asking out Velvet. That thought left two important questions in my head though: where do we go for our first date and how do I plan to win against her teammate on Thursday? Thankfully, the Vytal Festival was still two weeks away, so she wouldn't be spending a whole lot of time training.

I guess dinner and a movie will have to do until I can think of something better. I thought as I changed into my normal clothes with Castor and Pollux on my arms and let my teammates rest as I headed down to the cafeteria.

After I finished my breakfast, I headed outside to see a large crowd gathered around the statue in the middle of the courtyard. I pushed through the group of students to see Cinder with tears in her eyes being escorted to Professor Ozpin's office by a guy who kind of reminded me of Ruby, only older and wearing white with his otherwise red outfit and Professor Goodwitch.

"What's with her?" I asked a guy next to me.

He shrugged back. "Don't know. Cinder just started babbling on and on about how she 'couldn't work for her, and that Emerald and Mercury were going to do something awful for her boss.' whoever that is, and then she said something about using the Vytal Festival to draw grimm to the city."

 _Jeez, it's a good thing that Atlas' military left, otherwise they probably would've arrested her for saying that._ I thought. It was no secret among the students that the military was paranoid to say the least. I mean, come on, who sends hundreds of soldiers and several dozen battleships just to make sure that we're safe?

I turned my attention back to the scene at hand and saw Professor Ozpin with an angry expression on his face as he stood at the top of the stairs of the clock tower.

 _Must be serious if Ozpin's mad._ I walked away from the commotion and sent Velvet a text asking if it was still alright with her if we waited until after my match with Fox for the date. Just sending the message hurt me though; I really didn't want her to think that she wasn't an important part of my life.

Thankfully, she responded almost immediately saying that she was still okay with the idea that we waited until after the match.

 _Thanks for understanding._ I sent back.

 _No problem :)_ She replied. I smiled to myself. _She is incredible._ I thought. I then headed off to find Professor Port to ask him a favor. I found the Professor in his classroom arranging some files on his desk absentmindedly with his back turned to me.

I cleared my throat to get his attention. He turned around with a smile on his face. "Ah, Mr. Taren! What can I do for you today?" He asked me.

"Well Professor, I was actually wondering if you could pass along a message to Professor Ozpin for me." I said, slightly nervous, remembering the angry expression on Ozpin's face earlier today.

He looked slightly curious. "What do you need me to say?"

I breathed deeply, hoping that Ozpin wouldn't lash out at me in his current mood for asking this of him. "I need you to ask him if he would supervise a match between myself and a second-year student Thursday at noon." I said.

The Professor nodded back. "Very well, I'll pass along the message as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Professor." I said as I exited his classroom, heading for the gym once more.

I ended up spending most of the next two days in the gym, my muscles slightly sore, but I was still psyched up to test myself against the other gauntlet user.

Today was the day of the fight, and I woke up rested and ready. I texted Velvet, asking if she wanted to meet for breakfast in the cafeteria and she came back with a yes a few seconds later. I changed into my regular gear, Castor and Pollux on my arms as usual and let my teammates sleep, Pyrrha and Jaune cuddling each other while Nora and Ren slept in their own beds. I smiled at my team leader his partner and headed out.

It was still early in the morning, the slightly chilly fall air paving the way for winter with the morning dew gleaming off the blades of grass in the sunshine. I made my way to the cafeteria and was greeted by the sight of a few students sitting in their own groups while Velvet sat with her teammates, Coco and Yatsuhashi on one side of the table and their rabbit faunus teammate and Fox on the other side, all of them silently eating their meals.

I grabbed a plate of scrambled eggs with sausages and a glass of orange juice and headed over to team CFVY.

"Hi guys." I greeted them.

Coco remained silent; Yatsuhashi gave me a wave, Fox merely grunted while Velvet smiled at me and gave a happy "Hey Joe." She motioned for me to sit next to her.

I smiled back and set down my tray of food. "So, did you ask Ozpin?" Fox asked me.

"Not directly." I replied. "But he did send me a message yesterday saying that he would be more than happy to supervise."

He gave me a mischievous smirk. "Good."

Velvet looked at me slightly concerned. "You know, you don't have to go through with this if you don't want to."

I shook my head. ""Your concern is appreciated Velvet, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

She still looked worried as she turned to Fox, who smirked back at her. "Don't worry Velv, I'll try not to cut him open."

I let out a nervous laugh at the statement. _Scary thing is, he probably could if he wanted to._ "If you do, at least try to avoid the throat." I said, trying to make myself less nervous.

"I'll **try**." He repeated as he returned to his meal.

I took a deep breath and ate my breakfast, trying to think of some way I could beat Fox, finding no feasible solutions as I finished my morning meal.

After my breakfast, Fox and myself agreed to meet at twelve in the sparring arena. I went down to the armory and prepared my equipment for the fight, sharpening my blades again, making sure that the gauntlets were still fully stocked with grenades and examining my armor for any scratches or chinks that my rival might be able to exploit.

Aside from the scratch marks on my left shoulder pauldron from when I was clawed during the breach, all my equipment was in perfect working order.

I breathed deeply to calm myself down and put both my hands on the weapons bench.

 _Why are you doing this? Is it to impress Velvet? Is it to prove yourself to a second-year team? Or is it something else?_ My thoughts were interrupted by Velvet calling my name from behind.

I turned to face her, smiling nervously. "Hey Velvet."

"Hi Joe." She replied, her face the epitome of concern.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

She gave a small nod. "I-I just don't want you to get hurt. The last student who sparred against Fox almost lost an arm."

I sighed, took a step towards her and gave her a hug. "Velvet, for the last time, you don't need to worry about me. With Professor Ozpin supervising the match, nothing bad is going to happen. He won't let either of us get hurt." I said from over her shoulder.

She returned the embrace. "Okay." I heard her reply. We separated from the hug and I looked at the time.

"I should probably start gearing up. Fox might be waiting for me already." I said, gesturing to the nearby clock that read 11:45.

She nodded and left me put on my gear. Well, it's nice that she's worried about me I guess. I thought with a small smile.

With all my equipment on, excluding Andrea's sword and including the mask Jaune made for me, I headed towards the arena where I saw Fox in his combat gear standing on the opposite side of the arena, Professor Ozpin with his mug and cane in hand standing in the middle of us and teams RWBY, CFVY and JNPR in the stands, among a few other first-year students, as well as a couple exchange students.

"I didn't keep you waiting, did I?" I addressed my fellow gauntlet user.

"Nope, I got here just a few seconds ago actually."

Before I could say anything else, Ozpin interrupted me. "Mr. Taren, Mr. Alistair has requested a slight rule change. Are you aware of what it is?" I looked at the old Professor, confused and shook my head. "He has asked that aura levels should drop to ten percent instead of fifteen before a person is considered knocked out. Do you agree to these terms?"

My eyebrows shot up and I looked at Fox, who merely smirked back with crossed arms. _Why would he ask that? Actually, why does an extra five percent really matter anyway? It can't really hurt._ I looked back at Ozpin and nodded. "I agree." I said.

He nodded back. "Very well then, I will give the standard countdown and you will begin." He said non-chalantly as he took a step back, out of our way.

"Three," I rolled my shoulders and took a fighting stance.

"Two," I took a quick look at Fox, who was still standing with his arms crossed and that smirk on his face.

"One," he's overconfident; use that to your advantage. I thought.

"Begin!" Ozpin's voice rang out across the classroom.

Immediately, Fox turned from a standing position to take two slashes at my chest, both of which I only barely blocked. I gave him a kick to the stomach and he took a few steps backwards.

"Not bad." He said calmly.

I merely grunted in response and shot three grenades in his direction, one in front of him and one on either side, all of which he dodged. I extended both my blades and charged at him in a horizontal spin, only for him to duck and sweep out my legs from under me, leaving me flat on my back. He punched downwards and I rolled out away from the hit, his fist connecting with the concrete where my face had been only a second ago. Retracting both blades, I shot a grenade from both gauntlets at him, the explosive force hitting both of us giving how close I was to him. Fox backed up and it gave me a chance to get back on my feet.

I took a quick look at my aura level, 85%. Damn, those things hurt. I thought as Fox charged at me again, delivering a straight jab at my chest, which I dodged. I kept both blades retracted as I blocked the hits he continually threw at me, relying more on his hand-to-hand skills rather than his blades. I managed to block a few, but the ones that got through took my aura down quite a few notches.

Fox kept me on the defensive until I made another sacrificial move as I fired a grenade into his chest from less than a foot away from him, sending us both flying backwards.

I went on the offensive and extended both my blades, delivering a slash to either side of my opponent's stomach. Thankfully, he was still stunned from the blast and they both connected, taking his aura down by at least ten percent. I stabbed with my right blade upwards at his chest, but he blocked the strike with his own gauntlet and pushed me away with his free hand.

We went on like this for several minutes, one of us putting the other on the defensive and getting a couple hits in until both of our aura levels were in the red, but still above ten percent. I was at sixteen percent while Fox looked to be at maybe eighteen percent. Ahead, but not by much. By this time, I had exhausted my supply of grenades from both my gauntlets and was breathing heavily as I blocked more strikes from my opponent. He managed to connect another slash to my stomach and I smashed my left gauntlet against his right one, leaving his chest exposed for a shoulder charge. I put my remaining strength into my right shoulder and smashed it into him, sending him backwards. His aura dropped again and I charged at him, blades extended.

What happened next was a mystery to me. At first, it looked like I was about to win with a slash to his arm, but he blocked the attack, uppercut me in the stomach, sending me into the air and he jumped into the air alongside me and pile drove me into the concrete floor.

I was extremely groggy as I lay on the floor of the arena. My back and chest hurt, that much made sense, but why was I bleeding from the shoulder? The pain didn't register for a few seconds until I felt a burning sensation from the left appendage.

I must've blacked out, because when I came to, I was in a bed wearing a hospital patient's gown and my equipment was sitting on a table next to me and a red-stained bandage on my left shoulder. My vision was blurry as I looked around to see the familiar white shapes of what seemed to be the school infirmary with a heartbeat monitor hooked up. I blinked a couple times and heard an unfamiliar muffled voice yelling. I looked around to see Velvet almost screaming at Fox with tears in her eyes, waving her arms wildly from the other side of the door.

I tried to get up from my lying position in the bed, only for my body to scream in protest, my chest and back feeling like somebody had hit them with a sledgehammer while my left shoulder felt as though it was burning. The heartbeat monitor beeped rapidly and I saw the rabbit faunus stop yelling at her teammate. She said one last inaudible thing to him before rushing in the room and taking a seat in the chair beside the bed.

"Joe! Thank Dust you're okay." She said with a small smile. I frowned slightly. Her eyes were red from crying and her voice sounded a little bit hoarse from yelling at her teammate. This was a far cry from the Velvet I normally knew.

"I guess you were right to be concerned." I said with a light laugh, making my chest burn in pain again. Her rabbit ears drooped as her gaze shifted to her feet.

"I told Fox specifically **not** to deplete your aura. If I'd known that he wanted to drop the aura levels earlier, I would've stopped the match." She said with an unusual amount of anger in her voice.

"Velvet." I called her name, but her gaze remained at her feet. "Velvet." I repeated. She looked up at me, sadness now present instead of anger on her face. "It's not your fault. You understand that, right?"

"But I…" She started.

"There was nothing that you could've done. The match was specifically between Fox and myself. If I didn't want to do it, I would've backed out. If anything, this is my fault for being so damn stubborn." I put my uninjured hand on hers. "And please don't blame Fox either, okay? He offered to take down the aura levels and I agreed, simple as that."

She smiled weakly at me and moved her face towards mine, her eyes closed and lips puckered. Our lips met and we kissed, it probably only lasted two seconds, but the connection felt much longer. In that moment, the pain was forgotten, nothing else mattered and we were the only two people in the world. She removed her lips from mine and she scratched the back of her neck nervously, her face incredibly red.

"I-I'm sorry Joe, t-that was…"

"Amazing." I finished for her, grinning wildly.

She gave a small nod back with a shy smile and a silence formed. "Well then, I should probably let you rest."

"You don't have to leave if you don't want to." I said faster than I intended.

"No, Coco wants us to continue training for the tournament." I nodded at her and she made for the door. "Oh and by the way, we're going out the second you're out of that bed." She said with a wide smile.

"Agreed." I said with a nod. She left the room and I put my head down on the pillow of the infirmary bed, closing my eyes.

"Looks like Coco owes me twenty lien." I heard Fox say.

My eyes shot open and I glared at the one responsible for putting me in the bed standing in the doorway. "So are you going to tell me exactly why the fuck you decided to slice open my shoulder?"

The red and brown clad fighter merely sat in the chair beside my bed and clasped his hands together, his gauntlets removed from his arms. "A test."

I looked at him confused. "A test to what? See if I would cry like a bitch at the sight of a little blood?" I said angrily.

"Nope," He replied calmly. "A test to see if you were the right guy for Velv."

"Enlighten me." I demanded.

"Well, when we were first-years, a couple guys decided to go out with Velvet and the relationships only lasted a week tops because of the fact that they were only interested in hanging out with us. Our team was the best of our year and everyone knew it. So they thought that if they were dating Velvet, it would make them untouchable. They used her to elevate their own social status." Fox stated.

"You still haven't gotten to the part as to why I'm lying in an infirmary bed with a cut in my shoulder." I said frustrated, but slightly intrigued.

He took a deep breath. "When Velv first introduced you to us, Coco, Yatsu and myself immediately assumed that you only wanted an excuse to hang out with a second-year team. So, Coco decided to stage a fight between us. I would deplete your aura, put you in here, and we'd see if you'd take advantage of Velvet feeling sorry for you. Coco bet that you would exaggerate the amount of pain you were in and guilt trip her into going out with you." I felt my eyebrows shoot up. "But, from what I just heard, you did nothing of the sort. You never mentioned the date, you didn't ask her to do any sexual favors for you and you made a joke about the pain rather than exaggerating it."

I took a minute to digest the information. "So can I assume that I passed?"

He smirked back. "That you did my friend, that you did."

"So did Ozpin punish you for depleting my aura?" I asked the blind man.

He chuckled. "He did, but after Coco explained why I did what I did, he severely reduced the punishment. Originally I was going to spend a month in detention with Goodwitch, but now it's only three days." His smile faded. "But in all seriousness, I actually feel kind of bad for putting you here."

"Hey, no problem man, you were just assessing who I was to protect a teammate. I would've done the same thing in your situation."

He nodded back. "The cut isn't too deep. It should heal in a couple days. In the meantime, I suggest that you think about where you're going to take Velvet."

I groaned and let my head hit the pillow again. Shit, the one thing that keeps slipping my mind.

"Having trouble deciding?" Fox asked.

I nodded. "She's incredible and I want to take her on a first date that conveys those feelings. The only big problem is, I have no fucking idea what to do!" I said frustrated.

Fox got up from his chair and leaned in next to me. "I may know of a place that she used to go to as a kid, but you didn't hear it from me. You just happened to stumble on it when you wandered around Vale one day." He said in a whisper.

I listened intently as Fox told me where to take Velvet for the first date that would almost certainly guarantee a second one. I thanked the blind man as he left and let exhaustion take over as I slept.

 _I guess even the most violent acts can be seen as good ones._ I thought as I fell into sleep's sweet embrace.


	14. The Date

Thankfully, Fox was right and the wound in my shoulder had mostly healed in two days, allowing for me to be discharged from the infirmary, but the doctors kept my arm in a sling to avoid putting much stress on the shoulder.

Dressed in my normal clothes with Castor on my right arm and Pollux in my right hand, I headed back to the dorm first thing that Sunday morning to let the team know I was okay.

I unlocked the door with my scroll and was greeted by the sight of Jaune sitting nervously on his and Pyrrha's combined beds nervously twiddling his thumbs while his partner hugged him from behind. Nora was mid-sentence, talking to Jaune when I opened the door and Ren was reading quietly at Nora's desk, and there was a fifth empty bed where Pyrrha's had been that I could only assume was mine.

All four of their heads snapped towards me as I walked in and placed my left gauntlet in my duffle bag. "So… did I miss anything?" I asked.

"Joe! You should've texted us that you were out of the infirmary!" Nora yelled as she jumped in front of me.

I cringed at the volume of her voice. "Sorry Nora, but I thought it'd be better if I saw you guys in person."

"Joe, you got hit pretty bad by a second-year student. You should've let us know when you were being discharged." Jaune said.

"Sorry Jaune, it's just that…I just had other things on my mind." I admitted.

"What could be more important than your teammates?" Pyrrha asked, her arms still wrapped around Jaune's waist and her head resting on his right shoulder.

"I-its…" I sighed. _How was I supposed to tell them that Velvet meant more to me than they did?_

"Joe, what is it?" Ren asked, putting down his book. "We're your teammates. You can tell us anything that's bothering you."

I took another deep breath and gave them the whole story about team CFVY's first year at Beacon and how the 'fight' was really an assessment to see if I was the right guy for Velvet.

"They're really protective of her, aren't they?" Jaune said.

I nodded back. "She's a little too trusting and her team just didn't want to see her get hurt again." Everyone exchanged concerned looks. "But think about it; if we were in their shoes, we would've done the same thing to protect a teammate, right?"

Jaune exhaled deeply and gave a small smile. "Yeah, I guess we would've."

I smiled back at my team leader and gestured towards the fifth bed. "So, can I assume that's mine?"

"Yup!" Nora said happily. "I wanted to decorate it, but Ren wouldn't let me." She pouted.

"And by the way, when the doctors removed your mask from the fight, I put it in your bag." Ren said.

I turned around and gave him a nod. "But anyways, I should probably let Velvet know I'm out of the infirmary." I said to my team, heading out the door to team CFVY's dorm.

 _I just hope she's not mad at me for not texting or phoning her._ I thought as I knocked on the second-year team's door.

It only took a single second for the door to open, Velvet to see me standing in the hallway with a smile on her face, dressed in her casual clothes of a light brown t-shirt and jeans with a hoodie and for her to embrace me.

Pain resonated from my shoulder as she tackle-hugged me, but I really couldn't care less. It was just nice to be close to Velvet again.

"Um, Velvet?" I heard Fox say from inside the dorm. "In case you haven't noticed, Joe's arm's in a sling." He pointed out to his teammate. I let out a slightly frustrated sigh as Velvet let go of me.

"How did you know, you can't even see!" I said to the blind man as Velvet let me in the dorm.

"I could hear your clothes ruffling as you moved and I noticed something that wasn't there before, and giving that you were in the infirmary for two days, it was kind of obvious."

"I'm so sorry Joe, I-I just didn't see it and…" Velvet would've kept apologizing but I gave her a one-armed hug and she quieted down.

"Velvet?"

"Yeah?" She asked from over my uninjured shoulder.

"It's alright." I said with a light laugh as I let her go.

She smiled at me as she took a step back. "So… do you feel up to going out tonight?" She said hopefully.

I grinned widely. "That a trick question? Of course I do." I said with nothing less than absolute happiness.

"Okay then, where are we going?" She said with an equally wide smile.

I gave a quick look at Fox, who nodded at me with a smirk, Velvet's back to him. "You'll find out when we get there. I'll pick you up at say, five, five-thirty?" I said.

She gave me a quick nod. "Five o' clock sounds good."

"I'll let Coco and Yatsu know where you've gone." Fox said, looking at Velvet. "They'll probably be either sparring or studying all day."

"Okay then, I guess I'll see you tonight, Joe." Velvet said.

"Yeah, see you then. Oh, and by the way, just dress casually. I like how you look in a hoodie and jeans." I said with a smile as I left the dorm.

 _Now I've just got to make sure I don't screw this up._ I thought worriedly as I walked down the hall to the cafeteria, where I met my teammates as well as team RWBY having breakfast in their regular seats. I grabbed a tray of scrambled eggs and bacon and sat next to Jaune.

"Hi Joe. You doing okay?" Ruby asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My shoulder still hurts a little bit, but otherwise, I'm fine."

"Well I don't see why that second-year student cut you like that. He should've known when you were out of aura!" Weiss said in disbelief.

I sighed and looked at Jaune. "Can you explain it to her? I'm too tired to say it again."

He nodded back at me. "Sure."

"Explain what?" Blake asked.

"I'll tell you later." Jaune said.

After a momentary lull in conversation, Yang broke the silence. "Hey Joe, I heard that you and a certain rabbit faunus are going out tonight." She said with one of the widest smirks I've ever seen.

I nodded. "And Jaune told me that him and Pyrrha are going to be going out on their first date either tonight or tomorrow." I said with a smirk as my team leader stuttered like crazy while Pyrrha blushed.

"I-I never said that!" Jaune exclaimed.

"Actually, you did. You said that Pyrrha and yourself would be going out the weekend after our mission and considering how our mission was on Tuesday and this is the weekend…" I deliberately trailed off to let my logic sink in, realization dawning on him as he sighed.

"Okay, yeah, I guess I did say that. We actually don't know when though."

I smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just take your time with it. It's been working with me and Velvet so far." I offered.

"Just watch out Joe, otherwise you might end up with more kids than you intended." Yang said, still smirking.

I sighed. "Straight for the rabbit jokes? Really Yang?" The blonde brawler merely shrugged.

"I've gotta tease someone besides Vomit-boy."

I shook my head and ate my breakfast, deciding to spend the next few hours trying to find a decent outfit besides my normal clothes, finding no solutions. I ended up turning to the only other guy who I knew had a good sense of men's fashion: Neptune. I walked down to where my cousin's team's dorm was and knocked on the door.

My fellow blue-haired friend opened the door and gestured for me to come in. "Hey Joe, how's the arm?" He asked as he sat in his desk chair.

"Well, it's not going to fall off if that's what you're worried about." I said with a smile and taking a seat on my cousin's bed. " Where's Sage and Scarlet?" I asked, looking around the otherwise empty dorm.

Neptune shrugged. "Meh, probably out sparring with each other."

"Okay then, I was actually wondering if you could help me with something." My tone turned nervous.

He shrugged. "Yeah, sure. What is it?"

I took a deep breath. "I'm going out with this amazing girl tonight and I want to be dressed in something that looks better than this." I gestured to my normal day-to-day clothes with my good hand.

"Hmm." He tapped a finger against his chin in thought. "Formal or casual?"

"Casual." I replied quickly

"Where are you taking her?"

"A restaurant. Sounds like more of a diner, actually."

"I see." He kept scrutinizing me for a few moments before speaking again. "Well, I think that the black hoodie is good, but maybe swap out the white t-shirt for a dark blue one that matches your hair and I think a pair of either blue or black jeans would work fine and lose the gauntlets. They just don't look good on any outfit."

I looked down at my clothes and nodded at Neptune. _Say what you want about the guy, but he sure as hell knows what to wear for every occasion_. I thought. "Thanks. But what about the sling?" I gestured to my injured arm. "Do you think that it'll help or hinder me?"

He gave me a small smile. "Definitely help. Chicks dig scars."

I let out a small laugh, left the dorm and headed back to my own to see if I had anything what he'd suggested in my bag. It was a little past noon when I finally found Neptune's recommended clothes at the bottom of my bag. I tried them on and they all fit. The hoodie, dark blue t-shirt and black jeans looked pretty good when combined with each other.

I spent the remaining hours until my date training with Ren on the grass of the courtyard on how to call upon my semblance, making significant strides. Once I had full control, it felt like just flipping on a switch in my mind to make myself taller.

"And Joe, one last thing that I should tell you." The stoic said.

"It's not bad is it?" I asked worriedly.

He shook his head. "No, I was just curious that since your body has the potential to grow taller, you might also be able to add further density to your muscle fiber."

I just looked at him. _The only word I got out of that was muscle._ "Huh?"

He sighed. "You may also be able to make yourself stronger due to the fact that your semblance allows for further growth." Ren explained, dumbing it down for me.

"So, in order to get stronger, I have to do it myself?" I asked. "My semblance won't do it?"

He nodded back. "Exactly."

"Okay, well thanks a lot Ren. I owe you big time." I said as stood.

He bowed and I left to shower and change into the clothes that I lay out in the dorm. After I put on the t-shirt, hoodie and jeans, I combed my hair for what must've been the fiftieth time in the last three minutes.

"Joe, I'm no expert on dating, but I don't think you should be this worried for a first date." Pyrrha said with a light chuckle.

"Is it too much?" I asked, gesturing to the clothes, my left arm still in the sling.

She shook her head. "No, that's fine, it's just that you're obsessing over the littlest details. If you comb your hair any more, it'll start falling out. Don't go too heavy on the cologne or deodorant and above all, don't be so anxious." She said with almost sage-like advice.

I exhaled deeply. "Okay. Thanks Pyrrha." She smiled back and I looked at the time and my eyes widened. 4:55. "Gotta go!" I said to my teammate as I sprinted out of the dorm, down the halls and up the stairs to Velvet's dorm. Before I could knock on the door though, Fox's voice called for me to come in. _Right, blind apparently equals superhuman hearing._ I thought as I opened the door to see Fox lying on his bed with his hands behind his head dressed in his combat gear and Coco reading a copy of the 'Vale's latest trends' magazine at her desk wearing a pair of dark brown pants a matching long-sleeved shirt while Yatsu and Velvet were nowhere to be found.

"You know, I've never seen her this worked up over a guy." Coco said to Fox, ignoring my presence.

"Yeah, it's like she really likes him or something." Fox said sarcastically with a smirk.

"He's a really nice guy, Fox!" I heard Velvet's muffled voice shout from the dorm's closed bathroom door. "He told me not to blame you even though **you** were the one who cut his shoulder!"

I opened my mouth to alert the rabbit faunus to my presence but Coco clamped a hand over my mouth before I could say anything. "So if things were to get serious between you two, do you think you might get married someday?" The fashionista asked her teammate while my cheeks heated up significantly.

A moment's pause, then I heard her nervously say: "I-I don't know." Another pause. "I guess it all depends on whether or not he'd want to or not." At this statement, the other two second-year students shot me looks that could kill a king taijitu.

"You do anything to break her heart and I'll make you eat a bullet." Coco whispered in the most threatening tone I've ever heard.

I removed her hand from my mouth. "Trust me, if I ever do **anything** to hurt her, I'll eat one of my own grenades first." I whispered back. Coco then smirked and nodded at me approvingly. "Hey Velvet, it's Joseph. Are you ready to go?" I asked, my voice back to its normal volume. Immediately after the words left my mouth, Velvet opened the door to the bathroom, dressed in the same clothes I saw her in earlier today with her long brown hair as straight as ever and sporting an ever-beautiful smile.

"Yup." She said happily.

I gave her a quick nod and smiled back. "Alright then let's go."

We walked side by side down to the docks where we took an airship to Vale.

"I noticed that you change up your clothes a little bit." Velvet said, breaking the silence that had formed during the ride.

"Thanks. I actually got a friend's advice on what to wear." I replied.

"Oh." She replied, shifting her gaze to the floor of the airship, sending us back into an awkward silence.

I gently nudged her arm with my own. "Hey. Everything alright?"

She gave me a weak smile. "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

 _Great job Joe, you already fucked it up!_ I thought to myself. Shortly after, the airship docked, we disembarked and Velvet flipped up her hood so that it covered her head and rabbit ears, despite the fact that it wasn't very cold out. I pushed the thought out of my mind and moved on. "So, do you want to go to dinner or the movie first?" I asked.

"I think I can wait to eat." She replied, her earlier demeanor forgotten.

I nodded back and offered her my uninjured arm, which she took as I led her down the streets of downtown Vale to the movie theater. We decided on seeing the Terminator movie that had come out recently and after an hour and a half of robotic massacre, headed off to dinner.

"So do you have any preference on where to eat?" I asked Velvet as she walked beside me, her hood still covering her head.

She shook her head. "No, not really."

 _Perfect._ I thought with a smile. "Well, I know this nice little place a few blocks away that makes some really good soups." I said.

Her face brightened up at the suggestion. "Sounds good." I nodded and led her to the restaurant that Fox told me about when I was in the infirmary. After a few minutes of walking in a comfortable silence, we arrived at our destination: a small restaurant by the name of 'Sal's Soups and Suppers'.

I saw Velvet's face light up at the sight of the place. A fairly small establishment with a white and blue tiled floor, standard ceiling lights, a couple of booths, tables with a white marble counter separating the customers from the employees, a cash register on the far left side. I opened the door for my date to enter and she silently flipped back her hood, exposing her head and rabbit ears to the open air as she entered. Only three other people were there as customers besides Velvet and myself. In the corner in a booth sat another couple talking over a cup of coffee in a booth while a lone figure wearing a green hoodie and black jeans sat at a table, their back to us. At the cash register was an old, fairly muscular wolf faunus of about fifty with short and straight jet-black hair, light green eyes and wolf ears rather than human ones. He was wearing an apron with a name tag that read 'Salvador' on the front along with a few cooks I could see working in the back.

"Hi Sal." Velvet said with a wide smile as she greeted the man at the register.

He grinned back and threw both his arms outwards. "Velvet! So good to see you again! And what's my favorite and best customer doing here on a night like this?"

"Wait, you've been here before?" I asked her, feigning my actual knowledge.

She nodded back at me. "I used to come here all the time as a kid and Sal would give me a free meal every once in a while."

"Her parents are doctors at the hospital and they helped my son after he got injured, so I figured that I owed them something." I saw Sal's grin fade slightly. He shook his head. "But anyway, what can I get you two?"

I turned to Velvet. "Any recommendations?"

She nodded back at me and looked at Sal. "I'll have the carrot soup and my…um…" I looked at her, puzzled. "Date." She said nervously. "Will have the chicken noodle."

Sal let out a hearty laugh. "Alright then, your regular seat's still open. He said, gesturing to an open booth in the back right corner of the room.

Velvet nodded to the man and we sat in the cushioned seat beside each other. "So how often did you used to come here?" I asked.

She sighed. "Quite a bit. I'd come here to get away from the bullies that would pick on me when I was training at Signal or whenever I felt sad."

 _Fox failed to mention that._ I thought with a frown. "So is that why you kept up your hood all this time?" I asked, remembering that she'd kept it on since we landed, even in the theater.

She nodded back and looked up, her gaze never reaching my eyes. "I just don't want to be bullied anymore."

I put my good arm around her shoulders and pulled her close as I noticed tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Velvet." I started quietly. "You don't have to be afraid of who you are or about being picked on by anyone else. You've got your team, the professors at Beacon and me protecting you. I can promise you; that if anyone wants to get to you, they'll have to get through us first." She gave me a weak smile and a hug. "Not to mention Yatsu. And not even an alpha beowolf can get through him." I said with a smile, trying to inject some humor into the situation.

Apparently it worked because she let out a giggle and wiped away the tears. "Thanks Joe, that really means a lot." Velvet said as she released me from the embrace.

"Anytime." I replied as Sal brought over our soups, placing them on the table in front of us.

"Bon appetite." He said with a bow.

"Thanks, Sal." Velvet said, immediately digging into her meal.

"Yeah, thanks." I added, following slowly after Velvet. I wasn't a huge fan of soups. I always saw them as bowls of flavored water with other objects in the way. Until of course, I took that first spoonful.

I really couldn't say what made this soup so different than the others, but to say it was absolutely delicious would be a massive understatement.

"So, how did you find out about this place?" I heard my date ask from in between mouthfuls of soup.

I swallowed a spoonful of my own meal before responding. "Well, I was just…" I looked in her eyes as she looked into mine and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't lie to her. There was no physical force in this world that could make me lie to the amazing and beautiful person sitting beside me. I exhaled and took a moment to collect my thoughts. "Fox…Fox told me how you used to visit this place as a kid and he said it would be a good place to take you for our first date." I explained. "I was in the infirmary from the sparring match and I couldn't think of any really good place to bring you for our date, so he decided to help me out." She looked back down at the table in front of us. "If you're mad, I completely understand. I mean, how many guys do you know that are as unoriginal as me?" I said, completely ashamed.

She quickly looked up from the table and at me. "N-no! It's not that!" She said quickly, seeing the saddened expression on my face. "Joe, this is the best date I've ever been on." She said with a light laugh. "You got help from your friends in order to prepare properly for tonight whereas I've just treated this date like any other I've been on. I just feel like I haven't been treating tonight with the same amount of attention as you, and I feel bad for it." She said, her gaze returning to the table.

I breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled. "So, back on the airship to Vale, when I told you how I got a friend to help with my clothes, you were just worried that you didn't put in the same amount of effort as I did?" I asked, to which she merely nodded and I chuckled again. "Velvet, that is the least of my worries. What I was worried about was the possibility that you wouldn't enjoy yourself tonight."

She looked back up at me, smiled and gave me another hug. "This has been the best night of my life." She said, making me grin wildly and blush.

"Th-thanks. It's actually the first date I've ever been on." I replied.

She released me from the hug and I explained how I've never had a girlfriend and never kissed another girl besides Velvet, which apparently was hard for her to believe. We finished our soups but still sat at the table, making small talk about what our childhoods were like and our time at Signal. I told her how I met Andrea and why I carried her sword with me whenever I fought grimm, even though I knew Velvet already knew the rest of the story about how she died.

"I'm-I'm sorry you lost her, Joe." She said in a gentle tone.

I nodded and kept my gaze to the table. "Yeah. So am I." After an awkward silence, I looked at the time on my scroll, which read 7:56. "Anyway, it's getting kind of late. You want to head back to Beacon?"

She gave me another adorable smile and nodded. She then shuffled out of the booth and I went to pay for the soups at the register, where Sal was waiting. The bill came to ten lien, I gave him a twenty-lien card and he gave me an odd look.

"Just give me a five. The other five is a tip." I explained.

He shook his head and smiled as he gave me five lien. "No, sorry it's just that you look like someone that I feel like I should recognize."

"Maybe he's someone your son or daughter introduced you to?" Velvet offered from behind me.

Sal's smile faded as he shook his head again. "No, we've definitely never met before. I never forget a face." He said, his tone bordering on depressed.

"Show him that photo. Maybe Joe met them and never realized it." Velvet said.

Sal nodded, opened his wallet and handed me a photograph the same size as my scroll.

The sight of the picture made my blood run cold. In the picture were the faces of Elias and Denara standing on either side of Sal, each with a hand on his shoulders and smiles on their faces as they stood in front of the restaurant. It looked to be taken about a year ago; Elias' hair slightly shorter than what I remember while Denera's was much longer, ending about halfway down her back. Elias wore a t-shirt the same shade of green as his hair with black jeans while his sister was wearing a dark red hoodie, black t-shirt and blue jeans. I felt my knees buckle and my found myself out of breath as I sat on the cold floor of the establishment, leaning up against the counter as I stared at their faces.

Velvet bent down next to me and shook my shoulder. "Joe! Joe, are you all right?" Her voice filled with concern.

I shook my head and slowly regained strength in my legs as I stood up and faced Sal, who had a worried expression on his face. I handed the picture back to him.

"Your son's name was Elias and your daughter's was Denara, right?"

He nodded, his expression turning to one of disbelief. "You knew them?" He asked.

"They were my friends. I'm just sorry that I couldn't protect them on initiation day." That was all I could think to say to the father of my deceased friends.

He shook his head. "Not your fault. They knew what they were getting into when they were selected for Beacon."

I nodded. "The world would still be a better place with them in it though." I said sadly.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I think the thing I miss most about them is whenever Elias would use a pick-up line on some girl and Denara would apologize to her for his actions." Sal said with the ghost of a smile on his lips.

I laughed. "Yeah, the exact same thing happened when I first met them. Elias tried hitting on my old friend from Signal and Denara apologized."

We then settled into an awkward and saddened silence as we both recalled our fond memories of the wolf-twins.

"Well, thanks for the soup, Sal. Perfect as always." Velvet said from beside me.

"Yeah, come back anytime, Velvet." He said. The old wolf-faunus turned his gaze to me. "It was nice meeting you…" He waited for me to finish.

"Joseph." I said with my hand extended. "Just call me Joe."

He returned the handshake and smiled. "Joe. Hopefully I'll see you both here again sometime."

I nodded as he released my hand and Velvet and me headed out the door for the airship docks. We caught the last flight to Beacon by a matter of seconds with a couple other students, a couple of whom appeared to have gone drinking, as either a third or fourth-year guy wearing brown cargo pants and a black t-shirt with messy dark grey hair across from us was talking with his friends, slurring his words and laughing unnecessarily loud. The drunken guy looked around until his blue eyes settled on Velvet and he shot her a wink with a stupid grin on his face, but she simply turned her gaze to the front of the airship. A feeling immediately flared up in my chest. Whether it was anger or jealousy, I couldn't tell. The guy then stood up, stumbling slightly as he crossed the space between us and sat in the empty seat to Velvet's right with me on her left. "Well, hey there, hotness." He said. That feeling became more akin to anger now. "How's about you come back with me to my dorm and we make a few bunnies?" His eyebrows moved up and down lazily as he spoke.

"Uh, um… no thanks." She said to him politely. "I'm actually with someone else right now." She then pointed a thumb at me.

He leaned forward in his seat to look at me, nearly falling out of it as he did so. "Aw, he's a loser! But me, I'm a freakin' sex-machine!" He replied loudly with both his arms raised as if he was just crowned a champion.

"Hey!" I shouted at him. "She's with me and she asked her to leave, so I suggest you do so." I said threateningly.

His expression turned serious. "I don' take no for un answer, bud. She's coming with me." He then grabbed Velvet by the wrist and tried to pull her out of her seat as he stood, but I was on him in a second. I grabbed the hand that had a hold of Velvet and compressed his fingers together. He yelped in pain and immediately let go. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and held him up against the metal wall of the airship, his feet dangling half a meter off the floor.

"She asked nicely." I deadpanned at him. "I'm not gonna. Leave. Her. Alone. I may only have one good arm, but I can still snap your neck before you can blink." I let him drop to the floor and he grumbled something at me before sitting next to his friends, who had ignored the confrontation. I continued to glare at the guy as I took my seat next to Velvet and the ship docked at Beacon.

Upon landing, I offered her my arm and she held it, letting her guide me back to her room.

"Well, here it is." I said, gesturing to team CFVY's dorm.

"Yeah." She said quietly, her gaze to her feet as she let go of my hand. _Yup, you done fucked up, Joe. Nice job._ I chastised myself.

"Hey." I said. "What's up?"

"W-well, it's… it's just that…" She sighed and looked me in the eye. "Joe, while I very much appreciate that you're willing to protect me from anyone who wishes to harm me, I just want you to exercise some restraint."

I felt my cheeks heat up from embarrassment. "Yeah, I guess I do have a bad record for going overboard." I admitted, remembering what I did to Cardin. "Okay. I promise to ease up and I'll try to avoid anymore physical confrontations." I vowed.

Velvet looked up from the floor and gave me another beautiful smile, making me smile back. "That's all I wanted." She said as she hugged me, which I guess was now our version of a handshake, considering how often it happened.

"So, any chance that you'd be willing to go out with me again?" I asked, not really sure how to proceed.

She didn't say anything, merely pulled back from the hug, gave me a quick peck on the cheek and went into her dorm, leaving me stunned and grinning stupidly to myself in the hallway.

 _I guess that's a yes._ I thought as I headed back to my own room.


	15. New Challenges

The Vytal Festival Tournament was going to begin tomorrow and because of that fact, everyone was training harder than ever. I went to the gym to do my morning workout and saw an unusual amount of students there, from Beacon as well as other academies. Ren must've been right about the 'muscle fiber density' thing because I found myself getting stronger and being able to push myself further and further than ever before each day.

I was just about to finish a set on the bench press when Yang approached me wearing her gym clothes, which consisted of a bright yellow t–shirt that covered her chest more than her day-to-day attire did and a pair of matching shorts.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked the blonde brawler.

"You're going to do what I say or I'll show it to everyone in the school." She said non-chalantly as she stood beside me, her gaze facing directly forward and her arms crossed.

 _What the hell?_ "Yang," I started, extremely confused. "I think you may be confusing me with someone else." I stated.

She just shook her head. "Nope."

I decided to go along with her. "Okay, show what to everyone in the school?" I asked.

She reached into the right pocket of her shorts, grabbed her scroll and held it in front of me as a video clip of my first date with Velvet and our whole conversation at Sal's played on the small screen in front of me. "Now wouldn't it be just a little embarrassing if every student at Beacon heard how you two talk to each other when you think no one else is around?"

I felt my cheeks heat up and I facepalmed as she went on to show several screenshots of me with my arm around Velvet as we hugged in the restaurant and even when she kissed me on the cheek at the end of the date. While I was not at all ashamed of dating a faunus or being in a relationship with Velvet, but I'd still very much prefer it if the specific details of our first date weren't broadcast all across Remnant.

"How did you even get this?" I asked in disbelief.

"Do you remember anyone else in the restaurant that night?"

I gave her a puzzled look. "Yeah, there was a couple sitting in a booth and…and a person sitting on their own wearing a hood." I sighed as I realized that she must've followed Velvet and me ever since we left Beacon. "Okay, what do you want?"

She smirked as she turned to face me, leaning up against the mirror on the wall. "You, Joseph Taren, are going to play a game of truth or dare with both our teams as well as Velvet tonight in our dorm."

"And let me guess, you want me to get Velvet to play as well?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Exactly." She said as she jabbed a finger at me. "I already 'convinced.'" she made air quotes at the word. "Blake and Weiss into playing, as well as Jaune and Pyrrha."

I waited for a second, thinking she was going to continue. "What about Ruby, Ren and Nora?" I asked.

"Well, I only had to mention the game to Ruby and Nora and they both thought it would be fun…" She started.

"…And Nora doesn't do anything without Ren and vice versa." I finished for her, the logic now setting in. I sighed. "All right, I'll-I'll talk to Velvet and see what she says." I said dejectedly.

Yang smiled. "Good." She then took a step away from me and waved away the air in front of her nose. "You uh, might wanna shower first though." I looked at my clothes and noticed two dark spots under my arms on my light grey t-shirt. I nodded back and picked up my duffle bag that still served as my dresser for my clothes as I headed to the locker room.

After showering and changing into some clean clothes, my BO now gone, I headed for team CFVY's dorm without Castor and Pollux on my arms as there was only two situations in which I did not wear them: when I was at the gym or out with Velvet. I knocked on the door and my girlfriend opened it wearing a large brown hoodie, a light brown t-shirt and black sweatpants. I immediately rushed into the dorm and picked her up in a hug as I did so.

"Joe! Put me down!" She said in between giggles.

I smiled to myself. "As her majesty commands!" I said, my voice taking on a regal tone as I dropped her on her bed lying face up and she recovered from her laughing as I leaned over her, smiling widely.

We were like that for about ten seconds, just staring into each other's eyes. We'd only been dating for a week, but as Velvet said; there was definitely something between us that she just didn't feel for any of her previous 'boyfriends'.

"So I assume you didn't come here just to hug me?" She asked in a whisper with a smirk.

"What if I did?" I replied back, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear that had gotten in her eyes during her struggle.

She giggled again. "Well I guess I can't really complain then, can I?"

I smiled back. "Not really." She closed her eyes and I gently pressed my lips to hers, letting the worries of the day just pass us by as we kissed, not one of lust, just pure love for each other. My lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen and I reluctantly pulled away from the connection. I sat on her bed and she sat up next to me.

"Anyway, what's up?" She asked. I let out a slightly frustrated sigh that Yang was making me have this conversation with Velvet.

I shifted my gaze from my feet to Velvet's beautiful brown eyes. "I just want to preface this by saying that I am in no way ashamed to be seen with you, Velvet." Her face bore a slightly concerned expression and her rabbit ears drooped. "You're friendly, charismatic, you have a great sense of humor, the cutest laugh and a personality that's only rivaled by your beauty."

She looked away from my eyes and to the floor. "Joe… are you… are you…" It felt like my heart was almost literally going to snap in two when I heard her trying to choke out the words. I knew she was going to say: 'breaking up with me', but I was **not** going to let her say it.

"Velvet, please don't even finish that sentence." She looked back up at me and I put an arm around her waist. "I don't even know how I lived my life before you were in it." I said with heartfelt honesty. "Yang apparently got a hold of some photos and a video of us on our first date and she's using them as blackmail, threatening to post them all around the school if we don't play truth or dare with her and her team as well as mine tonight."

She put her head on my chest and let out a small sigh. "I think we should go along with it. I'm not ashamed to be seen with you either Joe, but I just don't want the whole school jeering at us."

"I'm glad we're on the same page then." I replied quietly.

I then heard the familiar voice of one Fox Alistair from the doorway. "So, you guys at fourth base yet?" He said with a wide smirk.

"Shut up Fox, eavesdrop on somebody else's conversation for a change." Velvet said to her teammate leaning against the open doorway with crossed arms.

He shook his head. "I wasn't eavesdropping."

"You lying to us or yourself, Fox?" I asked.

He entered the room and sat at his desk, pulling his Braille book out of one of the drawers. "Little column A, little column B." I heard him mumble.

Velvet let out a sigh and I stood up. "I'll text you once I know the details." I said as I gave her a quick kiss on the lips and left the room.

Later that day, at lunch, the nine of us were gathered around our regular seats and ate in relative silence with the only topic of conversation being how everyone was training for the tournament that would begin soon.

I finished my lunch and looked at Jaune. "So how'd Yang get **you** to go along with truth or dare?" I asked.

"She somehow got a hold of some real embarrassing pics of me as a kid. Yang said she got them from my oldest sister, but I don't even know how that's possible! Christine's been hard even for the rest of my family to track." He replied in disbelief.

I nodded. "Ah. And Pyrrha?"

"Diary." He said simply. I had learned during the week of dating Velvet that a diary was a girl's best friend. Their confidant, their listener, the one person who wouldn't judge them no matter what they said.

"How did Yang even get a hold of it? We keep our dorm locked just about every day." I asked.

Jaune sighed. "The only two explanations I can think of are that Yang has a second semblance that lets her teleport through walls, or she went in through the window."

"Gonna have to put a lock on that too." I mumbled.

Pyrrha turned away from the conversation she was listening to Yang and Ruby have, faced her partner and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Everything all right?" She asked in a comforting tone.

Jaune let out an exasperated sigh. "Joe and me were just discussing the truth or dare game tonight."

After she noticed the slightly disappointed expression on his face, the champion gave her partner an amorous hug. "Jaune, I think that we should at least try and get some fun out of it." She said.

"That's a little hard to do when you're being blackmailed." I interjected.

"Well, it actually would be a nice break from all the training for the tournament and everything else that's been going on." Jaune added.

I held my head in my hands. "Fine, I'll try to make the best of it."

"So, everyone excited for the sleepover?" I heard Yang say ecstatically.

Blake glared at her partner. "So long as I get my book back by the end of it."

"And you give me back my hairpins!" The heiress added.

 _Really? She's worried about a couple of stupid hairpins while the rest of us are being blackmailed?_ I thought as something else entered my mind. "Wait, when did this become a sleepover?" I asked the blonde brawler.

Yang shifted her gaze over to me from the other side of the table. "Ever since I decided that it should be, blay-boy."

"Blay-boy?" I asked, confused beyond all recognition.

"Yeah, 'cause you have blades for weapons and you're dating Velvet, who's a rabbit faunus and playboy's mascot is a bunny?" She said, waiting for me to connect the dots.

I shook my head. "That might be the worst nickname you could've thought up." I said with a light laugh.

"Okay then, what would you call yourself, genius?" She quipped back.

"Badass?" I offered with a smirk.

"Hah!" She laughed sarcastically. "Good one."

Yang then went on to explain when we'd meet in team RWBY's dorm, bring our own sleeping bags, play some games, snack and just try to relax, which I have to admit **did** sound like a good idea.

I texted Velvet the details and a few hours later, the ten of us were in our pajamas in RWBY's dorm, the six of us visitors with our sleeping bags, except for Velvet, who apparently forgot hers.

"It's all right, you can take mine." I offered.

She shook her head. "No, it's okay, I'm fine with the floor."

"Or you could just share!" Yang called as she sat in front of the TV in the room, playing a fighting game with her sister.

"Yeah, or there-there's that." I said nervously, scratching the back of my neck as Velvet blushed. While both recovered from Yang's suggestion, Jaune, Pyrrha and Weiss talked amongst each other while Nora devoured every piece of food in sight with Ren trying to restrain her while Blake sat on her bed, reading yet another book. Jaune had forgone his rabbit onesie in favor of a white t-shirt and blue sweatpants while Velvet wore a brown (of course) t-shirt and a pair of matching lounge pants, everyone else in their normal nightwear including me.

After about an hour or hour and a half of casual conversation and a few heated fighting games, Yang had an announcement.

"Alright everyone, time for the main attraction!" She said as she reached underneath Blake's bed and produced an empty beer bottle that I don't even want to know where she'd gotten from considering how alcohol was not permitted on Beacon grounds. Yang then walked over to her closet and after a few minutes of searching every pocket of her daily outfit, pulled out a white dust crystal.

"You're not planning on freezing anyone, are you?" I asked.

"Ice crystals are blue, blay-boy." She stated.

"Blay-boy?" Velvet whispered in my ear, just as confused as I had been.

I shook my head. "Just a stupid nickname. I'll tell you about it later." I whispered back.

Everyone sat and we made a circle in the middle of the room, Yang closest to the window facing the doorway with Blake to her right, then Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss, myself, Velvet, Ruby, Ren and finally, Nora. Yang placed both the bottle and the crystal in the center of the circle. "This dust crystal is a lie detector. Apparently it can detect certain brain waves or whatever when you lie and it'll glow red. If you tell the truth, it'll stay the same color."

I picked up the crystal. "Mind if I try it?" Yang nodded. "My name is not Joseph Taren." Sure enough, it glowed bright red for a second before returning to its regular white. I set down the crystal and looked around the room. "Okay, who starts?"

"Actually, before we go any further, I suggest we set forth some ground rules." Weiss interjected.

"Aw come on, life's no fun with rules." The brawler said with a smirk.

Ruby raised her hand. "Actually Yang, I think she's right. The last time you and me played this with our friends, it almost ended in disaster." The little reaper said quietly.

Yang let out a sigh. "Fine, lay it on me."

"Nothing that would piss off Goodwitch or any of the other professors." I immediately set forth.

"Nothing of a sexual nature or that requires nudity." Weiss added.

"Nothing that requires us to leave this dorm and everyone gets one pass." Blake piled on.

"Okay, no repeating any questions or dares and you can't target someone who targeted you the previous round." Yang said, adding in her own rules. "Everybody happy?"

"No unfair questions." Pyrrha said quickly.

"How will we know if it's a fair question?" Jaune asked the red haired champion.

"We put it to a vote." She replied.

Yang let out another frustrated sigh. "All right, can we get on with the game already?" She pleaded.

"Yes." We all said in unison, eager to rid ourselves of the blackmail.

"Nice. Now since I came up with the game, I'll start." She spun the bottle and it landed on Nora. "All right, truth or dare, Nora?"

"Dare!" Our bubbly grenadier replied immediately.

Yang smirked evilly. "Kiss Ren." My eyebrows shot up as Nora's face turned the color of a tomato. "On the lips." I suppressed a laugh as our normally completely fearless, creep crushing, ursa-riding Nora became the epitome of nervousness as she pecked her partner on the lips. Ren apparently had all his emotions under control and I could swear I saw the ghost of a smile on his lips as his partner pulled away.

Yang nodded, satisfied. "All right, good start."

Nora wordlessly spun the bottle as her face slowly returned to its normal color. The bottle landed on me and I prepared for the worst.

"Truth or dare, Joe?" She asked.

Feeling like taking a risk, I chose dare.

"I dare you to…" She thought for a moment. "Wear Yang's gauntlets and let her wear yours."

 _Meh, could be worse._ "Just give me a sec." I said as I got up from my sitting position, retrieved Castor and Pollux from my duffle bag in our dorm and handed them over to Yang as she gave me hers. I put on the unusual weapons while Yang slipped her hands into my black-painted gauntlets.

"How do you collapse these things?" Yang asked me as she turned her hands over, examining my signature weapons.

"You don't." I replied. " And by the way, you're wearing them on the wrong hands."

Yang stared back at me, confused. "How do you know?"

"Pollux is supposed to go on your left arm, not your right. The names are engraved on the underside." I said, returning my attention to Yang's gauntlets. "Hey, what's this button…" I accidentally pressed the button that apparently fired a shot from her gauntlets, making it hit me right in the face, my aura taking the damage, leaving me stunned. "Okay, so that fires it." I said, voicing my discovery.

"Hey, what's this do?" Yang asked as she pointed to the pressure switch that extended the blade.

"No don't!" I called out. But it was too late. She applied pressure with her fingers and the blade from Castor extended, ending just short of Jaune's throat. "Take your finger off the switch, Yang." I said calmly. She complied and the blade retracted, leaving Jaune terrified. "Can we switch back now, Nora?" I pleaded.

She nodded with a grin on her face. "Yup." I breathed a sigh of relief and slid out my hands from the weapons as Yang did the same.

After placing Castor and Pollux back in my duffle bag, I returned to my sitting position next to Velvet and spun the bottle, landing on Weiss.

"Truth or dare, ice queen?" I asked the heiress.

She let out a frustrated growl at the mention of the much-hated nickname. "Truth."

"If you had to choose three other people in this room to make up your own team, who would you choose?"

She mumbled something under her breath. "Sorry, what was that?" I asked. She mumbled again. "Still can't hear you." I stated.

"No one, all right! I like my current team and I wouldn't want to be on anyone else's!" She yelled. I smirked as Yang, Ruby and Blake all gawked at Weiss in sheer shock. She then spun the bottle and watched until it landed on Velvet.

"Truth or dare?" She asked, still recovering from her outburst.

"Truth." Velvet replied.

"What do you find so attractive about Joe?" Velvet bit her bottom lip and hung her head to hide the blush I could see forming.

I felt my cheeks heat up and I raised both my hands. "Wait, wait, wait! That technically qualifies as a revenge truth, doesn't it?" I asked, looking to my teammates for support. Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha all just grinned and shook their heads while Ren merely shrugged.

"Sorry Blay-boy, looks like you're out of luck there." Yang said with a smirk.

I looked to Velvet and put an arm around her waist. "You can pass if you want to." I whispered to her.

She looked up from the floor and directly at Weiss. "He's protected me since the day I met him, before we even started dating. He's never made fun of me for any of my decisions in life, he's cute, he's my shoulder to cry on and he even told me how to get over a nightmare." As Velvet spoke, I watched the dust crystal as it continued to remain its normal white color. She then looked into my purple eyes and smiled. "That's why I love him."

My heart stopped while my mind raced. _We've only been dating for a week. Aren't you supposed to wait a few months before dropping the 'L' bomb?_ I asked myself. I hid my anxiousness by smiling back and pulling her in for a kiss, which lasted a few seconds longer than it probably should've, given our present company.

"All right, break it up!" Yang said as we separated, my arm still around Velvet's waist. She leaned her head against my shoulder as the bottle spun for a while before landing on Ruby.

"Truth or dare?"

"Dare!" The little reaper said excitedly.

"Eat an oatmeal raisin cookie."

My eyebrows shot up and my jaw dropped. _She's much more devious than I thought._ Ruby pouted at me and lost her joyful demeanor. "Joe, Velvet's too mean."

I smirked back. "Not my fault."

"Pass." Ruby replied quietly, spinning the bottle again, landing on me this time.

Feeling like taking another risk, I chose dare again. "Tell us a secret about you and Velvet that no one else knows."

 _Shit. She's trying to get at me through Velvet._ "I don't suppose that counts as a revenge dare, does it?" I asked Yang.

The brawler shook her head. "Nope."

I sighed and looked to Velvet; trying to think of the least awkward thing I could say. I didn't want to use my pass either, knowing that someone was undoubtedly going to think of something much worse. "Well, for our first date, we…" that's as far as I got before my blackmailer interrupted me.

"Ah, I already know everything that happened on that date since the second it started, Blay-boy." She said, waving a finger at me disapprovingly.

"All right. We… we made a pact, more of an agreement actually, where if either one of us had a nightmare, they'd come to the other person's dorm and we'd spend the night together." I said as I pulled Velvet close. "Sorry." I whispered in her ear.

"Were you going to tell the rest of us this?" Jaune asked me.

"If it came up, yeah." I said, embarrassed. _Okay, no more risks._ I thought.

The game continued on for a few more hours, Jaune dropping because he used his pass on a truth from Ren and was forced to quit after a dare from Yang that ordered him to make out with Pyrrha in front of all of us. I had to drop out after I was dared to call Cardin and tell him I was sorry for putting the hole in his shoulder. A trivial task, I know, but I just couldn't think of apologizing to that shitbag. Velvet had involuntarily dropped out after she fell asleep with her head against my shoulder, who was now seated in my lap.

The game probably could've continued on for several more hours, but Weiss pointed out to everyone the fact that they needed their rest for the Vytal Festival Tournament. Blake then mentioned the blackmail and Yang handed a black book with the title 'Ninjas of Love' to the cat-faunus, gave Weiss back her hairpins, returned Pyrrha's diary back to her and deleted the pictures she had on me and Jaune.

"The video too." I said, making sure it was all gone. Our blackmailer was about to delete the last photo of Velvet and me when I stopped her. It was one of us in the restaurant, the both of us smiling and hugging in the booth. "Send that one to me, then delete it."

She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "A little lovesick, are we?" I merely let out a frustrated sigh as she chuckled, sent over the picture and deleted it from her own scroll and the second the picture was in my message box, I set it as my background image. I managed to wake Velvet and she crept into my sleeping bag, making room for me as she shuffled over. As much as I tried though, I couldn't fall asleep.

I looked over at the clock on Ruby and Weiss' shared nightstand, which read 12:15AM.

I breathed deeply and put my head on the cloth pillow of the sleeping bag.

"Joe?" I heard a quiet voice call. "Is everything all right?" I looked to my left to see Velvet's eyes shining brightly in the moonlight.

"Yeah, why?" I replied in a whisper.

"Well, it's just that ever since I said that first truth from Weiss, you've seemed a little distant."

I opened my mouth to tell her everything was fine, but I couldn't speak the words. _If you lie in a relationship, you'll never trust each other._ My dad's words echoed in my mind. I took a deep breath. "Okay, I…I just think that when you said that you loved me if that might have been moving a little too fast." Velvet avoided eye contact with me. "I'm not saying that I don't like you for saying it, I'm just wondering if we might be moving a little fast in our relationship."

"I-I understand." I heard Velvet whisper in a sad voice as she turned her back to me. _Wait, since when does social protocol dictate what people feel for each other?_ I thought. _I love Velvet and it should've made me the happiest guy in the world when she said she loved me, so why didn't it? The answer: BECAUSE YOU'RE LETTING OTHERS MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOU, YOU IDIOT!_ I screamed inwardly at myself. I let out a sigh of embarrassment and put my arms around Velvet's waist, now spooning her.

"I love you too, Velvet. I'm letting others dictate how I feel about you and I shouldn't." I paused. "I'm so sorry." I said in the most apologetic tone I could manage. I was putting her through hell and she didn't deserve it.

Velvet turned over again, facing me and smiled. "It's okay." She leaned in for a kiss and I happily obliged, the two of us falling asleep in the small sleeping bag shortly after.


	16. An Offer

"Come on, let's go! I don't want to be late for our first match!" Weiss yelled at Blake at Yang. I looked up to see the cat-faunus and the blonde brawler still dressed in their pyjamas while Weiss was already clothed in her combat skirt, rousing her teammates out of bed. I woke to find Velvet's long, normally straight but now messy brown hair in my face and realized that my arms were still wrapped around her, also that she was still sleeping soundly, her small figure rising and falling slowly in rhythm with her breathing. I smiled to myself and slowly got out of the sleeping bag as slowly as possible to not disturb her. Weiss then looked at me and opened her mouth, but I placed my hand over it to stop her from waking Velvet.

"Quietly please." I whispered, pointing to the sleeping rabbit-faunus.

Weiss scowled and removed my hand. "Shouldn't you be going back to your dorm as well to prepare for the tournament?" She whispered.

I shook my head. "I'm not participating. Only the original team JNPR is." I replied.

"Hey, where's Ruby?" Yang asked from her closet, picking out her usual clothes.

"She said she'd just be out for a while before joining us for the tournament. Ruby said that she'd be back in time for the tournament though." Weiss answered in her partner's stead.

I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around my waist. I looked back slightly over my shoulder and saw Velvet standing behind me, her head on my shoulder. "Good morning." She said with a smile.

I smiled back. "It is now that you're awake."

"All right lovebirds, get out of here before I get nauseous." Yang said, waving us off with her free hand as she draped her clothes over her other arm and headed into the bathroom to presumably shower and change.

I picked up my sleeping bag and led Velvet out of the dorm to leave the rest of the team to prepare for their upcoming fight.

"So did I hear you right? You're not taking part in the tournament?" Velvet asked with a yawn.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and nodded. "Yeah, Jaune wanted me to take his place but I told him that it just didn't seem right. He was gracious enough to accept me as a fifth member of the team and that's a debt that I can never repay. I couldn't replace him of all people in the tournament."

"So what are you going to do while the rest of us are fighting?" She inquired.

I shrugged. "Probably just watch." I thought for a moment. "Well… that and study. My grades haven't exactly been the highest lately." I replied.

She stretched and nodded back. "Okay, just don't strain yourself. Take a break every once in a while."

"I will." I promised. After sharing a quick kiss, we headed back to our own dorms. I unlocked the door and knocked. After Jaune calling for me to come in, I saw him, Nora and Ren already dressed in their combat gear and heard the shower running, where Pyrrha was most likely doing the same. "So, you guys ready for today?"

Nora was pacing quickly and the first to answer. "We're gonna destroy them!" She said ecstatically.

"I'm confident that we'll do well." Ren said with his eyes closed, meditating crossed-legged on his bed.

I looked over at Jaune and he had a worried expression on his face as he twiddled his thumbs from the sitting position on his bed. "They'll do fine," he said gesturing to Ren, Nora and the bathroom where Pyrrha had finished her shower and emerged wearing her combat gear. "I'm just worried about bringing you guys down."

I immediately got frustrated and dropped my sleeping bag beside my bed. "For fuck's sake Jaune, we went over this already, you're going to do fine. You're our team leader. With you on our side, we can't go wrong." I stated.

"He's right you know." Nora added.

"Agreed. Professor Ozpin wouldn't have made you team leader if he didn't think you weren't fit for the role." Ren piled on.

Pyrrha said nothing, merely sat next to her partner on their combined beds and kissed him on the cheek. Jaune's face grew a tad pink and he took a deep breath.

"Okay, if you guys think that I can do this, then I'll do it for you."

"YEEEEAAAAAHHHH JAUNE!" Nora cheered. I thought I heard a couple bones crack when she enveloped him in a massive bear-hug.

I smiled and shook my head at Nora's antics. "So, when's your fight?" I asked after Nora had put down our team leader, leaving him gasping for air.

"Shortly after team RWBY finishes theirs." Ren answered.

"Right now, we have to go and check our weapons though, make sure they're in working order." Pyrrha said. "It's a good idea to do before a tournament, or any engagement really."

I nodded. "Okay, I'll let you guys do that and I'll be watching from the stands." My four friends filed out of the room, leaving me to shower and change, Castor and Pollux on my arms as usual.

I left for the airship docks to catch a ride to the coliseum, only to be intercepted by Headmaster Ozpin himself.

"Professor." I greeted the man happily. "What can I do for you?" I learned a few weeks ago that I really actually owed Ozpin a lot. He helped me get my head on straight, put me on a team when he could've just as easily expelled me and if not for that last decision, I never would've met the love of my life.

"Good to see you, Mr. Taren." He said with a smile and his coffee mug in hand. "I was actually wondering if you'd be interested in a proposal."

This piqued my interest. "What is it?" I asked.

His expression turned serious. "It's a mission that has to be handled quickly and you will be rewarded extra credit if you succeed. A small settlement just north of Vale is fighting for its own survival right now." He took a swig of whatever was in his mug before continuing. "We think they may be fighting against an Omega beowolf."

My eyebrows shot up. I learned in Port's class that Omegas were extremely dangerous and came in all forms of grimm: creeps, boarbatusks, beowolves, ursai, nevermores, deathstalkers and even king taijitus. They were larger, stronger, smarter and more durable than regular grimm but thankfully; they were also unusual; not uncommon, but not rare either.

I exhaled deeply. "So who will I be going with and when?"

"As I said, this matter needs to be handled quickly, so you will be leaving as soon as possible. You are also one of the only students whom I trust to keep this matter quiet. If word got around that an Omega was close by, the fear would undoubtedly bring additional grimm to the city, so you will be going by yourself."

"So, wait. I'm going by **myself** to fight an Omega?" I asked in disbelief.

Ozpin gave a small nod. " **Possibly** an Omega, but yes. Your team is currently occupied fighting in the tournament but the settlement is also protected by a well trained militia." He paused again. "That is, if you accept." I nodded without hesitation. I had a personal blood feud against beowolves so killing an Omega was going to be a good stress reliever. "Good. An airship is already prepared and waiting." He said, gesturing with his free hand over to where a bullhead was docked. "When you have completed the mission or need to be evacuated, call me and I will send the airship to pick you up immediately. When you have your armor and other supplies, get on the ship and tell the pilot to fly you to Hishan."

I then left Ozpin standing there as I sprinted down to the locker room to strap on my armor and grab Andrea's sword Dusk as well as the mask Jaune made. After the equipment was on, I ran to the dorm where the only thing I grabbed was my duffle bag containing spare clothes and a toothbrush. No doubt I must've looked strange wearing my armor, a mask and gauntlets with a duffle bag over my shoulder as I made my way to the awaiting bullhead. I jumped on the aircraft and the pilot turned her head towards me.

"You the huntsman?" She asked as I closed the door, her eyes and head covered by the flight helmet she wore.

I nodded and took a seat. "Get me to Hishan." I replied. She nodded back and flipped a few switches on the dashboard. The engines whirred to life and seconds later, we were in the air, flying away from Beacon, the coliseum and soon enough: Vale.

After a two-hour flight, a small village with people freely roaming the streets and surrounded by a thick forest close to a few mountains came into view. It looked to have four clear roads leading in and out, each one leading north, south, east and west. In the middle of the village was a small concrete fountain and to the north, a large white building stone with a makeshift wooden tower that I assumed was the town hall. Around it were twenty or-so concrete and wooden buildings including houses, general stores and what looked to be an armory judging by the number of armed people outside it. As we got closer, I could see that the outermost layer of buildings had signs of being attacked by grimm. The walls had claw marks and some were completely destroyed. The roads had also been protected by makeshift barricades that were big small to allow a single person through, rather than a vehicle.

"This is gonna be a shock-drop!" The pilot yelled over the sound of the engines. _Good, a shock-drop means less risk for the airship._ The procedure was simple: instead of landing, the bullhead would hover over the designated landing zone and I'd just open the door and jump out. "Ok, over the DZ in ten…nine…eight…" She continued counting down and on five, I opened the door as the bullhead neared the town square. "…Two…one." I jumped out and fell about ten or fifteen metres to the ground, letting my aura absorb the force of the impact. I looked up to see the bullhead flying back towards Beacon. I turned my gaze to the people around me: a few civilians and the militia. A man who looked to be in his mid-thirties wearing a green combat jacket, combat pants and boots to match with an assault rifle in hand walked towards me and I took off my mask, placing it in my bag.

"Can I assume by that entrance that you're the help we requested?" He asked. Ozpin said this place was manned by a militia force, but this guy looked to be actual military. His blonde hair was cut short and his green eyes projected an attitude that I could tell didn't exactly earn him many friends.

I nodded and extended my free hand. "Joseph Taren." I answered. He merely looked at my hand and glared at me.

"We told Ozpin to send a team of huntsmen. Instead, he sends us a kid. Not even a full team of kids, one fucking kid!" He said angrily as he stormed off towards the northern barricade.

I let my hand hang down by my side as another member of the militia, a woman of probably the same age, approached me. "Sorry about Henry. He's just on a little on edge right now." She said with a friendly smile. Rather than the combat attire the other guy was wearing, She wore a simple black hoodie with a black t-shirt and blue jeans, a rifle slung across her back. Her long pink hair and cyan eyes shone brightly in the mid-morning sunlight as she greeted me. "My name's Grace and I'd like to speak on behalf of everyone by saying thank you for coming to our aid."

I nodded. "Of course." I looked around at the other faces still staring at me, men, women and children ranging from ages eight to about seventy. "Um, is there somewhere else we can talk?"

"Of course, follow me." She then made for the town hall and created a hole in the sea of people that had gathered around.

I followed Grace, my bag slung over my left shoulder and heard a high-pitched voice say: "Mommy, is that the man who's going to help us?"

Another voice replied: "Yes it is, dear. He's going to get rid of the big, bad monsters."

My mouth went dry as I mindlessly put one foot in front of the other. _There's no 'if' now. I have to succeed._ I swallowed as Grace opened the large doors to the town hall, the only light being from the windows at the top of the walls. There was a makeshift infirmary by the podium where the mayor would speak and a few small tents were pitched adjacent to the walls with a few families inside. Grace led me to the back of the hall where she opened a door to reveal a flight of stairs that I assume led to the makeshift watchtower and underneath the staircase lay a sleeping bag rolled out on the wooden floor.

"This is where we let the next watch sleep." Grace said as she closed the door, gesturing to the sleeping bag. "But since there's only one of you, this is where you'll be staying. Sorry we can't do any better."

I set my bag next to my new accommodations and smiled at Grace. "It's okay. This is actually how I spent my first few months at Beacon."

"All right then. You said you wanted to talk about something?"

My smile faded. _Right, time to get to business._ "When the headmaster sent me on this mission, he said in the brief that you thought you might be fighting against an Omega beowolf." The kind woman nodded back as she clasped her hands behind her back. "What makes you think it's an Omega?"

"It started out as just a rumor, after we were attacked by an Alpha, some kids thought it was an Omega because of its size, and since we're a village of only about sixty people, rumors tend to get around fairly quickly." Graze took a deep breath. "But a few weeks after that attack, another group came in and they sieged the village with ferocity none of us had ever seen before. After that, the mayor established the militia and we didn't need that much training considering how most of us living here are ex-military."

"Yeah that's great, but what about the Omega?" I asked.

Grace took another deep breath. "Henry thought that since these beowolves were more ferocious than the last group, he thought that we might be facing a group led by an Omega so he just thought that it might be a good idea to warn our reinforcements about a possible threat." She paused. "We sent that request yesterday and there have been two more attacks since then; all beowolves, no ursai, no deathstalkers, just beowolves. Now it's looking like less of a rumor and more of a high possibility."

I nodded in understanding. Port had said that the Omega grimm would only attack with the same grimm type as it was. Something to do with proving racial superiority or whatever. "Okay. Do you have someone up in the tower right now?" I asked.

Grace nodded. "Twenty four-seven." Her eyebrows shot up. "Oh! That reminds me." She reached into her back jeans pocket, pulled out a walkie-talkie and handed it to me. "We use these to stay in contact. Whoever's in the tower is codenamed Archangel, the northern barricade is Vanguard, east is Goliath, Behemoth is west and south is Deadeye."

I gave her a confused look. "Why the codenames?"

She smirked slightly. "Their symbolic of what each squad's role was in the military before they either left or retired. Goliath and Behemoth are heavy weapons experts proficient with light machine guns and rocket launchers, Deadeye are sharpshooters and Vanguard is a mixture of all three. Five people man each barricade, but we have four people awake at a time so that they can take turns getting their sleep when they can."

"Okay I guess that makes sense." I said, hanging the communication device on the front collar of my shirt. "Do you have a codename in mind for me?"

She shrugged. "Not really. What weapons are you skilled with?"

I extended the blades on Castor and Pollux. "These are also grenade launchers." I said, retracting the blades and pointing to the barrels on the underside of my gauntlets.

"Hmm." She said as the tapped a finger against her chin in thought. "How about 'Wardog'?"

I nodded with a small smile. "Awesome."

"Okay then, I'll notify everyone of your name, but what do we do now?"

 _Think Joe, think! What would Jaune do?_ I thought. "Well, we're going to have to confirm whether or not we're up against an Omega or not, so that means we're going to have to wait for the next attack." It seemed like the only logical thing to do at the time.

Grace nodded. "Okay." With that, she left and I heard her on the radio informing the five other callsigns about my nickname.

I sat down on my sleeping bag and exhaled deeply. _It's a good thing I got a good sleep last night._ A second later, my scroll started vibrating and I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Joe, it's Jaune. I was just wondering where you went. You said you'd be in the stands, but Nora pointed out that you weren't there so we were wondering if maybe something happened to you."

"Yeah, Ozpin kind of… wanted me to do something for him." I said, deliberately avoiding the truth. I knew that if I told him what my situation was, he'd start worrying and spread the rumor about the Omega around Beacon, the very thing Ozpin did not want.

"Ah, so then…where are you?"

My breath caught in my lungs. "He actually sent me on an extra curricular assignment and said I'd be out of Beacon for a few days. Nothing big, I'm just deliver a few packages to some associates of his."

"Oh, okay. Do you know exactly how long you'll be gone?" He asked.

 _Damn it, lying is hard!_ "Not really, he didn't even tell me where his associates were, he just gave me a few names and put me on an airship." I said, trying to give myself a little wiggle room in case the mission lasted a long time.

"All right then, I guess I'll let you get back to it."

"Yeah, by the way, how'd you do in the fight?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Actually pretty well. We managed to win despite the fact that everyone forgot about our team attacks."

I frowned. "Since when do we have team attacks?"

I heard Jaune groan from the other end of the line. "We had a huge discussion about this after the breach in Vale!"

"I… I can't say that I ever remember having any conversation like that, Jaune."

"Yeah, three days after the breach, we were all sitting in the cafeteria and I explained to everyone our team attack names!" He said, still sticking to his idea.

"Jaune…" I started slowly. "I was in the infirmary from my match with Fox three days after the breach."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Must've been a dream then."

I hung my head and smiled. "Goodbye, Jaune."

"'Bye Joe."

I removed the scroll from my ear and hung up.


	17. The Assessment

Around noon, Hishan's militia took a lunch break, two people eating while two others kept their eyes open and one slept. At this time, I was currently stationed at Vanguard's barricade with Henry, the guy who first greeted my when I landed. After a few desperate attempts at conversation, he finally told me that he'd been a captain in Vale's military before taking a crippling slash to the chest from an ursa major that had attacked his camp. He'd been honorably discharged and came to Hishan to relax for the rest of his life.

"So what were you before you were discharged?" I asked as I bit into a baloney sandwich a few of the village's chefs had made for the all of the guards.

"Point-man." Henry replied as he kept his gaze to the forest, his rifle cocked and ready. "Proficient with shotguns and assault rifles."

I looked at the other people who I was eating with and they just shrugged. I finished my sandwich and stood. "I'm going to check the status of Goliath and Behemoth." I said to Henry, who just grunted in response.

I sighed and headed west, passing a few people roaming around in the streets. I knew that Deadeye was going to be fine since Grace was stationed there. Still though, I had an uneasy feeling. I clicked on the radio. "Archangel, this is Wardog. You see anything, over?"

A few seconds later, the watch responded. "Nothing yet Wardog, over."

I kept walking and was in the town square when I heard someone yelling.

"You think that just because you're a faunus I should give you a discount!?" A voice shouted. I looked to my right to see a shopkeeper waving his arms around angrily as another man with rhinoceros skin stood in front of the man's shop, staring back at the man with fists clenched.

Instinctively, my fingers went to the pressure switches of my gauntlets, ready to extend the blades, but Velvet's voice in the back of my head stopped me.

 _"I just want you to exercise some restraint."_ I sighed and walked over to the brewing situation.

"Something wrong here?" I asked both men as calmly as I could.

"Yeah this animal thinks that I should give him a discount just because he thinks he's 'special'." He spat out the word.

"That's not even close to what I said!" The rhino-man replied angrily. "I just asked that because we're under attack by grimm if he could lower his outrageous prices!"

"HEY!" I shouted, silencing them both. "What do you provide for the people here?" I asked the shopkeeper sternly.

He shrugged with crossed arms. "Just food and baking ingredients." He replied, anger still present in his voice.

"And do you charge more than usual for these products?" I asked.

"Fuck yeah, he does!" The faunus interrupted.

I turned my gaze to him. "Sir, if I want your opinion, I will ask for it." He nodded and kept quiet for the moment.

"Sir?" I asked, looking back at the store owner.

He shrugged again. "My prices may not be the best in the village, but if he doesn't like them, why doesn't he go somewhere else?"

"Because this is the only place left that has a particular food that I prefer!" The faunus interjected. I glared at him before questioning the other man further.

"Is **that** true?" I asked.

The shopkeeper sighed. "Yes."

"OK, and since the village is frequently being attacked by grimm, it wouldn't hurt for you to lower your prices." I stated.

"Yeah, but he's a faunus! Why should he get special treatment?" The man retorted.

I shook my head. "I never said to lower your prices just for him."

"But he's got rhino skin…" He began.

"And you've got a mole on the right side of your face. Does that mean that I should treat you like crap just because **you** look different than I do?" I interrupted him.

"Well… I-I-I…" I smirked as he tried to argue. "All right. I guess that I could drop my prices until the grimm stop attacking." He said resignedly as the man headed back inside his store.

"Wow. Thanks for that. I didn't think he'd ever back down." The rhino-man said astonished.

I shrugged back. "Don't worry about it. I just can't stand seeing faunus being abused for who they are."

He gave me a confused look. "Why? You're human." He stated.

I breathed deeply before answering. "My girlfriend used to get made fun of because of her rabbit ears. It's also because of her that I decided to approach your situation with diplomacy rather than force."

He smiled back at me and extended his hand. "Thanks for the help. Name's Gar by the way."

I shook his hand and smiled back. "Joseph. Anyway, I've got to get going. I'll see you around, Gar." I said as I released his hand and moved towards Behemoth's post. I walked past a few more buildings until Archangel came over the radio.

"Five beowolves approaching Vanguard's position, over!" I immediately broke off from my regular course and sprinted towards the north barricade. Automatic gunfire broke out almost immediately after the call from the watchman was broadcast. Once I got there, all five-people manning the station were standing and firing their respective weapons at the small group of creatures. Grace wasn't wrong when she said they attacked with ferocity. When they charged towards the small fortification, they snarled and roared the entire way and were moving faster than any other beowolves I'd ever seen. I observed the slaughter as the five wolf-grimm were quickly filled with bullets and a man with a dust rocket launcher decimated the group. As the five corpses began to disintegrate, Archangel came over the radio again.

"Fifteen beowolves charging towards Goliath's position, over!" A second later, extremely rapid gunfire erupted from the east barricade and I moved to assist, but Henry barred my way with a rigid arm.

He clicked on his radio and spoke into it. "Deadeye, divert three soldiers to the east, over." He ordered calmly.

"Got it Henry, over." Grace calmly replied. I nodded at Henry in understanding and waited.

"Archangel, how are they doing, over?" Henry asked.

"Vanguard, the grimm are almost exterminated, over." The man in the tower replied as he exhaled deeply into the radio.

"This is Deadeye, there's around twenty beowolves charging towards our position!" A man came over the radio, extremely panicked. My eyebrows shot up and sprinted southward.

"Hold on Deadeye, Wardog is heading your way! I want all of Deadeye to regroup at the south barricade now, over!" Henry ordered over the radio. Once I got to the barricade, the two remaining snipers were quickly firing and reloading their high-caliber, bolt action rifles at the sprinting, snarling, vicious attackers. I extended my blades as they ran through the clearing separating the village of Hishan and the surrounding forest. Seven dropped as bullets hit their skulls and three simultaneously jumped over the four-foot wooden barricade while the remaining ten continued to charge forth, unfazed by the death of their comrades. I planted myself underneath one of the beowolves as it was about to land and it impaled itself on both my blades. The weight of the corpse fell on me and I pushed it off as I got up and slashed diagonally at the next target. To my surprise, it saw the attack coming and dodged out of the way. The beowolf slashed back and I rolled towards its unprotected stomach. Thankfully, I was the faster that time and delved my right blade into its chest while my left plunged into its stomach and dragged it upwards, causing massive bleeding damage to the grimm. Black blood flowed out of the large gash and I shoved the corpse away from me. The third took advantage of my temporal daze and leapt at me from the side with an eardrum-shattering roar. The hind legs of the beast were pinning my legs to the cobblestone path of the village while it maliciously slashed at my face with its razor claws. I shielded my face by crossing my gauntlets over-top each other as it continued to claw me. A few loud cracks rang out and the beowolf dropped suddenly. With a grunt, I shoved the body off me as the remaining few beowolves retreated back into the forest.

Grace ran up next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked, concerned.

I nodded back. "I'm fine, check on the others." I said, gesturing to the other two shooters. I retracted my blades and crossed my arms as I curiously watched the beowolves pull back. After we both checked on our fighters, we found that one had the unfortunate luck of having his throat viciously torn out by a beowolf. I headed north to report to Henry the casualty. I found him crouched next to a wounded man about twenty years old, his assault rifle slung across his back. Upon seeing me, he scowled and stormed towards me.

"You want to tell me what the hell just happened?!" He yelled. I immediately scowled back.

"Those weren't normal beowolves." I replied calm as I could, still remembering Velvet's lesson in my mind.

"Holy shit! I think you're a genius!" He yelled sarcastically.

I held up a finger. "But it wasn't the beowolves themselves. They were more intelligent, faster and they knew our weak points, like they were being led. It's the same principle as having a group of soldiers with a leader. Guided, they can do just about anything. But take away the leader, and they're running around having no idea what to do, just killing any enemy that they see." I explained.

Henry paused before he opened his mouth again. "So, what your saying is that these… creatures." He paused, knowing where I was going with this. "Are being led by something."

I nodded slowly with crossed arms. "Yes." I stated.

"But the only thing that can lead grimm is…an Omega." One of the soldiers' part of team Vanguard said from behind Henry.

"Exactly." I said to the woman. "They targeted our strong points when they could've just as easily climbed over the buildings and fought in the middle of town. That, and they waited to attack Deadeye's position until most of them had been diverted to help Goliath and they retreated because they were told to, not because they wanted to. The Omega must've given them the order to fall back when they realized that I was here. It wanted to assess what were capable of; how many of them we could kill before one of us fell." I let out a sigh. "And it looks like they accomplished their objective."

Henry gave me a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

"A member of Deadeye is KIA." I replied bluntly.

Henry sighed. "Shit. I guess you'll be posted there until we kill this thing."

I shook my head. "We have to find it first."

Henry's scowl disappeared, but he still wasn't happy. "Okay then, we'll send out a patrol..."

"No!" I shouted before he could continue. "You do that and you're only going to be leaving the village undefended! You need someone who's familiar with grimm; someone who knows where an Omega might make its den." I said with iron-clad determination as I stared into the veteran's green eyes with my own purple orbs.

"Okay then." He replied. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I'll go."

I shook my head again. "That's not happening. You're the leader of this militia and they need you. If **I** die though," I smirked and let out a light laugh. "Nobody needs me." I stated.

Henry let out an exasperated groan. "Fine, fuck. I want you up and out of here by o-five hundred hours tomorrow morning and you're finding out where this thing is but you leave killing the Omega to us." He pointed a finger at the rest of Vanguard at the word 'us'. "Understood, Wardog?" He was pissed now.

It was the only option; I knew that going up against an Omega yourself was a death wish. A trained huntsman could kill an Omega on their own, but just barely. "Understood."

"Good." The veteran said with a nod. "Rest up, you'll need it." I looked at the time on my scroll and it was only 3:40 and with my sleep schedule, there was no way in hell I would be able to sleep for more than fourteen consecutive hours. Instead, I prepared my gear for the scouting mission tomorrow, laying out a black hoodie with a black t-shirt and dark green jeans and running shoes so that I would blend in with the grass and darkness of the forest. I then decided to call Ozpin and give him an update. Like every other student at Beacon, I had Ozpin's number to his office phone on my scroll and I dialed it. The phone rang once before the headmaster answered.

"Yes?" He asked, calm as ever.

"Hello, Professor Ozpin? It's Joseph."

"Mr. Taren, I was hoping to hear from you. It's comforting to know that you're still alive."

I let out a light laugh. "Thank you, Professor." I then remembered recent attack, bringing down my mood significantly. "I'm afraid that I have some bad news."

He let out a sigh. "You believe that an Omega is orchestrating the attacks on Hishan?"

"Yes Professor, these particular grimm are smarter, more vicious, coordinated and faster than any normal beowolves I've ever seen."

"Yes, an Omega has an inspirational effect on the same type of grimm." He paused. "Thank you for the update, Mr. Taren. Your mission is to now find and eradicate the Omega."

"What about all the other beowolves?" I asked.

"They will disperse once the Omega is dead." He explained.

"Okay, I'll call you again once the Omega is dead."

"I wish you luck then, Mr. Taren. Goodbye." With that, he hung up and I decided to calm myself down by walking around the village, assessing the damage to the buildings and people before going to sleep.

It was a normal morning at Beacon, but something in the back of my mind told me that something was wrong. I was walking on the edge of the Emerald forest, wearing my day-to-day clothes including Castor and Pollux when I heard a low growl. I glanced towards the forest and saw two burning red eyes that belonged to a creature of grimm, the rest of the body camouflaged by the shade of the forest. I aimed my gauntlets towards the grimm and fired all twelve of my grenades at the creature. After the smoke cleared, the trees next to where the body of the grimm were completely disintegrated but in the middle, was a beowolf fifty percent taller than an Alpha and looked to be five times as strong, it's muscles the size of small boulders. The normally unprotected underside of the monster was almost completely covered in white armored plates with a few bearing cracks that formed a vertical line on its chest. I extended my blades and rushed forward as the creature growled again. I slashed at it about half a dozen times, but not once did it even flinch. The hits appeared to do nothing as it swung its massive paw at me and sent me flying more than thirty feet. I landed on my back and the creature stood over me, letting out another low growl as it opened its maw and lunged for my throat.

I jolted up in my sleeping bag and immediately extended my blades. After I looked around at my surroundings, reality sunk in. It was still completely dark which meant it was probably around midnight. _It was just a dream._ My fingers left the pressure triggers and I retracted the blades to pick up my scroll that I realized had been vibrating on the floor next to my head. _Well that explains the growling._ I pressed the 'accept call' button.

"Hello?"

"H-hi Joe." A familiar voice said nervously.

"Velvet." I said, now fully awake. "Hey, what's uh... what's up?"

"I'm sorry, did- did I wake you?"

"No, I was just trying to find my scroll."

"So um… Jaune told me about your errand for Professor Ozpin." Something sounded off in her voice.

"Velvet." I started. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." She said.

"Velvet…" I said sternly.

"Joe, I had another nightmare." She said quickly.

 _Shit, I'm out here and I can't be there for her._ I thought, remembering our agreement. "So since I'm away and we promised each other that we could cuddle with the other if either of us had a nightmare, you thought the next best thing would be to call?" I asked.

She paused. "Y-yeah. I'm… I'm sorry I woke you Joe; I just didn't know what else to do."

I let out a sigh. "Velvet, you can phone me any time of the day; noon, midnight, morning or evening. It doesn't matter. I'll always be there for you even if I can't." I paused. "If-if that even makes sense."

She let out a quiet giggle, bringing a smile to my face. "Th-thanks. That makes me feel a little bit better."

"Do you remember what it was about?" I asked.

"No, not really. I just woke up about half an hour ago."

"And you decided to wait that long until calling?" I asked a little more aggressively than I intended.

"I-I-I'm sorry it's just that…" She trailed off.

I took a deep breath. "No, I'm sorry Velvet. Please understand, I'm not mad, I'm just concerned about you, okay? I don't want you to be up all night."

A minute passed before Velvet spoke again. "O-okay I'll phone you immediately after my next nightmare."

"Good, but hopefully you won't have to." I said with a smile. "Good night Velvet. I love you."

"Love you too, Joe. Goodnight." Her voice said from the other end of the line. I waited until I was sure she had hung up before I ended the call on my end. I removed the device from my ear and stared at Velvet's smiling face on my scroll.

 _I smiled. "Huh. I guess there's at least_ _ **one**_ _person who needs me."_ After placing the scroll next to my pillow, I lay my head down and slept until morning.


	18. Discovery

I woke up at four forty-five in the morning and changed into my camouflage clothes and took along with the mask to avoid revealing my white skin in the black and green color scheme of the forest. I exited the town hall, the sky still dark with several dark clouds coming in and the morning sun starting to peak its head out from the horizon. As I entered the house that had been converted into a mess hall for the militia, I noticed that the only person in there aside from the cooks was Grace sitting alone at one of the empty tables nearby the set of stairs that had a few old family pictures hung up.

The building was a log cabin style two-story house with five tables strewn across the dining room, living room and in the two bedrooms upstairs. I could see all three cooks were busy making up meals in the marble-themed kitchen for the day using an old wood stove as a heating element. I pulled out the chair next to her and took a seat next to Grace and the woman looked up at me with a smile.

"Ready for recon duty?"

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as one of the cooks emerged from the kitchen with a plate of the standard breakfast consisting of two scrambled eggs and a sausage and put it in front of me. I gave the chef a nod of thanks and turned my gaze back to Grace. "As ready as I'll ever be."

She then gave me a confused look. "Where's your partizan?"

I swallowed a mouthful of egg before answering. "My what?" I asked, not stopping my eating.

"It's actually better known as a viper hood. Helps you be concealed while maintaining full field of view."

I shrugged and grabbed the fabric of my hoodie. "This works just fine."

She nodded several times. "Hang on a sec." She then got up from her seat and rushed out the door of the house. She then came back a few minutes later with a green, military-grade hoodie laced with grass and a cap sewn into the top of the hood. "This, Wardog, is a viper hood. It just helps with concealment and mobility. It's light, sturdy and not too warm so you don't have to worry about overheating. You can either wear it overtop of your other hoodie or replace it." She then handed it over to me and I took it. I turned it over and lifted it, satisfied.

"Okay then, thanks." I said, finishing my breakfast. "I should get going before Henry yells at me again."

"'Kay, just come back alive." Grace said with a smirk.

I nodded back at the woman, slightly concerned that I might not come back at all. Before I headed out though, I took off my black hoodie, put it back in my bag and replaced it with the viper hood. I then put on my mask and headed out with Castor and Pollux on my arms, leaving behind Dusk as it would hinder my movement. Since the beowolves had retreated to the south, I decided to start there and just hope that if I followed the tracks that they would lead me to the Omega's den.

I took a deep breath, flipped up the viper hood, leaving only my eyes and hands exposed to the open air, and exited the safety of Hishan's defended barricades as I followed the wolf-grimm tracks into the woods. The second I entered the thick forest, darkness engulfed me and my surroundings, significantly reducing my vision. I then crouched as I walked forward, avoiding sticks and piles of leaves in order to make as little noise as possible.

 _"Remember Joe, if you're opponent is stronger than you, don't be afraid to disappear and resort to stealth. Stay crouched, stay calm and if you think you might be spotted, hide until you have a solid reason to believe otherwise."_ Uncle Pollux's lessons on stealth rang in my mind. He was the one of my two mentors who was the less bulky and smarter. But by no means was he weak. Castor **was** stronger than him, but not by much, and Pollux was only slightly smarter. After a few hours of tracking, I continued to follow the tracks until they turned sharply, now heading west. I thought that was odd considering the fact that dens were usually made in caves or mountains, but to the west was nothing but dense forest.

I shook my head and continued to follow the large pawprints in the grass and the occasional knocked over tree until I heard a loud crunch to my left. I immediately froze and started to hold my breath until I remembered another lesson from Pollux: _"If you find yourself close to the enemy, do not hold your breath or else you'll end up taking one loud gulp of air which I can promise you_ _ **will**_ _be your last. Just take normal breaths in and out through your nose."_

I took cover in a nearby bush, shrouding myself in the foliage and waited. I waited two minutes until I heard another crunch and a beowolf entered my field of view, sniffing at the ground. I relaxed myself and tried to get all negative thoughts to leave my mind, any aggression towards the wolf-grimm, any hatred towards its species and any worries about my possible death left soon left my brain, replaced by thoughts of being next to Velvet, hearing her voice, looking at her beautiful face and imagining her long, soft brown hair intertwined in my fingers. I continued the train of thought until the beowolf sniffed at where I had been standing a second ago and looked around at the surrounding underbrush before wandering off, away from where the other tracks led. I emerged from my hiding spot and continued following the tracks that had been made by the beowolves of yesterday.

The large pawprints on the ground continued until they split up into five groups of two sets each, spreading out in five different directions. I sighed and decided to follow a set of pawprints that were heading towards a mountain to the north of Hishan.

As I followed the tracks, the weather got worse as thunder rumbled in the sky and a few raindrops began to fall, making me pick up my pace. I wasn't going to be able to track the beowolves if there were no tracks. The viper hood kept me warm and protected as I trudged onward, hot on the trail of the attackers. The pawprints continued until they turned sharply again, away from the mountain. It was then that I realized that these prints were much fresher than they should have been, the indentation had not been soaked by the light rain as much as the rest of the ground. After following this path for a while, I realized something: the beowolves were on a patrol route. They were protecting where the den was and hardly any prints actually headed towards the mountain. I deduced that that was where the Omega had made its den and was ordering its lesser beowolves to attack the village.

 _But there's no way Henry's going to believe me on a hunch._ I thought. _I have to go to the mountain and be certain that is where the Omega is or else we're never going to cooperate with each other._ I took a nervous breath and readied my gauntlets as I moved slowly and silently towards the mountain. The very air seemed to grow heavy with death as kept moving towards my objective. As I got closer, fear began to enter my mind and threatened to override my brain into revealing my position to any monsters that might be watching. By the time I got to the foot of the mountain, I was on the verge of having a heart attack by how fast it was beating. As I moved forward though, the forest started to open up into a small clearing and I was able to get a good look at the large natural structure that had a beowolf coming out of a cave and just inside it, the creature straight from my nightmare the previous night. Taller than an Alpha, stronger and undoubtedly more intelligent. It let out a low growl at the smaller beowolf in front of it and the smaller creature quickly scurried away from its larger counterpart, thankfully not seeing me observing from the foliage. I could only stare at the beast in sheer shock, this was something literally out of a nightmare that could probably kill me easily if given the chance. It glanced in my direction and I just sprinted in the opposite direction, completely unsure of what else to do. I stomped onto piles of fallen leaves, broke fallen twigs and completely disregard my earlier stealthy demeanour. After around two or three minutes of panicked running, I picked up my earlier tracks and followed them back to the village of Hishan, sweat pouring down my forehead and cheeks. I caught my breath, hands on my knees and bent over after being remembering the horrifying size of the monster that I thought only a Goliath could achieve.

My breathing resumed to normal and I walked into the village in the late afternoon from the south barricade, a steady but soft rain now falling, to find Henry already awaiting my report with a scowl and crossed arms.

"Anything?" He asked sternly.

I nodded and took off my mask, holding it in my right hand. "The Omega is hiding in a cave in a mountain to the north with beowolves frequently patrolling the area around it."

"Very well then, I'll get four of the best from each guard station and we'll attack tomorrow morning."

I gave the veteran an astonished look. "Henry… that's-that's not going to work." I said in disbelief.

"Oh?" He replied. "And why not?"

"Because this is an **Omega**. Not an Alpha, not a regular. This is one of the most vicious beasts that you've ever encountered and you think that five soldiers can kill it?"

"We are the best of the best and our combined strength surpasses yours." He said with finality. "Thank you for tracking the Omega, your services are no longer required."

I just stared at him, astonished at his nerve. Sure these soldiers were good, but this Omega could probably go through their auras and flesh with a single strike whereas my aura was more durable than theirs and I was more skilled with killing grimm than they were. "Henry…"

"You're done, Mr. Taren." He interrupted me. "You wanted to help and you have. Our agreement was that you leave killing the Omega to us. Call your ride and leave the rest of the job to us." He said as he walked back towards Vanguard's barricade.

I let out a frustrated yell and plunged my left blade through the concrete road, cracking the cement. _I'm not going to let this happen. I'm not going to let five lives be lost when it's not necessary._ I headed back to my temporary living quarters and laid out my normal combat gear, including Dusk.

"Joe?" A voice called from the doorway of the watchtower. I looked over my shoulder to see the familiar face of Grace looking at me, her face the epitome of concern.

"Oh. Hey, Grace. I guess you heard about the situation?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Henry wants me, Barry, Skane and Daniella to accompany him on the hunt tomorrow."

"Ah. The best of the best, right?" I asked.

"Yeah." She must've noticed the aggravated expression on my face. "And I assume that you don't want us going?"

I nodded. "You guys were trained on how to fight other people, not grimm. I am. Sending you guys in would just get you all killed."

"I think so too. I tried to talk to Henry about at least taking you along, but he doesn't want anything to do with you."

"Fucker's afraid I'll steal his thunder." I mumbled. "When are you leaving?"

She shook her head and her face bore a frown. "I've been ordered not to tell you." She then coughed into her hand and thought I heard something.

"What was that?"

"I said I've been ordered not to tell you." She repeated. Grace coughed again into her hand again and I distinctly heard her say "Ten-hundred hours."

I smirked. "Okay then. Well, I wish you guys the best."

She smirked back. "Thanks. Hey Joe?" Grace asked from the doorway on her way out.

"Yeah?"

"If…if you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you like your last words to your girlfriend be?" I opened my mouth to ask how she knew I had one, but she cut me off before I could say anything. "I was on watch in the tower last night and overheard you talking to her."

I let out a sigh and thought for a moment. "I guess I'd tell her that I love her and if I died, I'd want her to move on." I responded. "I don't want her happiness to die with me."

Grace nodded back. "Her name's Velvet, right?"

"Yeah. Second year student at beacon. Rabbit faunus, part of team CFVY." I looked in the markswoman's eyes. "You'll pass those words along, won't you?"

She shook her head. "Only if something goes wrong."

I nodded again to the woman and she left me to prepare for the assault I would go on tomorrow. I've got to get there before they do. That way I'll at least weaken the Omega for them or kill a few other beowolves.

I unpacked everything I would need for the morning: Dusk, my armor, mask, gauntlets and normal clothes. I took a look at the items and my uncle Castor's lesson about living with a code came to mind. I had decided a few years ago that mine was 'deeds, not words.' I hated politics and always admired huntsmen and soldiers for that trait of acting rather than questioning. My uncle Castor's code:

"Disobedience can be a virtue as well as a fault."

I picked up my scroll and contemplated calling Velvet, but I just couldn't do it. I knew I'd end up cracking and telling her about my true mission, about the Omega and how close it was to Beacon. Then she'd be worried about me and I wasn't going to put her through that hell. If I was going to die, then I wanted for her to receive the news suddenly rather than spend all of tonight wondering if I'd be on the next bullhead that docked at Beacon; similar to choosing whether to be killed outright or tortured. I then contemplated calling Jaune, but the same problems arose. I didn't want to lie when it wasn't absolutely necessary and cause concern. Besides, if I died, Ozpin would probably fill them all in on the details.

In the end, I decided to simply call no one and go to sleep in order to prepare for the inevitable slaughter that would occur the next day, whether it was the Omega's **or** mine.


	19. Assault

Last night was rough. I barely managed to get eight hours' worth of sleep and I just tossed and turned in my sleeping bag when I awoke at six in the morning. Still though, I had a job to do and nothing was going to stop me. I put on my normal clothes, removing the viper hood that I had worn overnight and zipping up my normal black one, clamped Castor and Pollux onto my forearms, picked up my mask, placed Dusk and its sheath in the makeshift holster on my left hip and strapped on my armor. I still needed to eat though, and stealthily made my way to the mess hall for my morning meal, trying to make sure that neither Henry nor any of the other soldiers going to hunt the Omega saw me. Thankfully, it was still dark thanks to the presence of more than a few rainclouds that had drenched the ground with precipitation overnight. One of the chefs brought me my meal and gave me a curious eye after he noticed I was fully armed and armored for my upcoming fight.

"Just don't want to lose anything on the flight back." I said to the man. The cook gave a grunt of acknowledgment and headed back into the kitchen. I quickly ate and left my plate there for the chefs to clean.

 _Asshole right to the end._ I thought with a chuckle as I flipped up my hood and exited the building. _That's absolutely going on my tombstone._ After donning my mask, headed for the cave that housed the Omega to the north and once again, exited the village, the weather slowly getting worse as more and more rain continued to fall. I took on a stealthier approach and crouched as I moved forward in the forest, keeping my eyes and ears open for the creatures of grimm.

It took longer than expected, but after dodging several beowolf patrols and maintaining my hidden position in the forest, I managed to arrive at the foot of the mountain where the Omega had been living for Oum knows how long. I slowly crouch-walked towards the cave in hopes of catching the Omega unaware, but felt the presence of beowolves close by. I took a quick glance to my right and saw the familiar red eyes of a wolf-grimm from the treeline. I extended my blades and waited for it to charge, but instead, it slowly walked out of hiding, another of its kin a few feet beside it, also emerging from the forest. I checked behind me as even more of the wolf-grimm showed themselves, leaving me surrounded. To my horror, a few also emerged from the mouth of the cave, which meant that the Omega must've known that I was there. I sighed, cracked my neck, rolled my shoulders and stared at the creatures closest to the cave.

"Well, I guess it's my time." I said resignedly as I took a fighting stance and pulled back my hood, rain falling on my hair. Before I could attack however, a menacing roar emanated from the cave, making both the beowolves and myself go stock-still. From the opening came the Omega on all fours, lumbering towards me. The others made an opening for the larger of their kin and it was then I realized that the Omega wanted my blood. I was a worthy challenge and it was going to show to the others what it was capable of. This was a show, the other smaller wolf-grimm playing the parts of both the audience and the arena.

"Hey there big guy." I said without a hint of fear. I was going to die; there was no doubt about it because even if I did manage to kill the Omega, the others would surely finish the job. "I suppose you're the one I have to blame for harming all those people." I said to the creature, which only growled in response. "You understand me, don't you?" I said with a smirk, remembering what Doctor Oobleck said about a grimm's age directly influencing their intelligence. The monster let out another growl and stood on its hind legs, letting out an ear-shattering roar along with a crack of thunder and lightning, illuminating the arena. "Bring it on, shithead." I said, wondering if those would be my last words as I charged the Omega with blades extended, aiming for one of the cracked plates on its stomach.

The Omega recovered from its attempt at intimidation and swung a left paw at me, sending me skidding across the ground, covering me in mud. I recovered from the blunt attack as fast as I could and activated my semblance, making myself as large as I could, only slightly shorter than my opponent. I retracted the left blade and fired three grenades into its underside, all of which did absolutely nothing other than denting a few of the armored plates. It charged at me with amazing speed and I barely dodged the attack, sending the Omega skidding into a small tree, cracking it at the trunk, making it fall. I took advantage over the temporal confusion and plunged my right blade into its left hind leg, making it roar in pain and sent hit me with its right paw, which I blocked with my left gauntlet only for the Omega to stand up, my blade still in its hind leg and bite me in my leg, forcing me to remove its jaws from my leg before the razor-sharp teeth depleted my aura completely. I wrapped my hands around my opponent's throat and weakly tossed it away, only moving it back a few feet.

The Omega was bleeding profusely from the hind leg, but appeared to be unfazed; no heightened aggression and the creature appeared to be breathing normally. Extending the blade on Pollux, I took another charge at the Omega and as it attempted to bash me away with its paw, I rolled forwards, underneath its stomach and let loose my remaining grenades directly into the belly of the beast, causing it to reel back and let loose a pained roar. When I got a chance to get a good look at the damage I had caused, I smirked. The three cracked chest plates were now in white shards on the ground, leaving a wide-open space for me to hit. I rushed forward again but the Omega was ready for me and with another roar, raised both front paws into fists and smashed the ground where it had anticipated I was going, both limbs forcing my mid-section and spine into the wet ground. Winded, I rolled to the left and half a second later, two sets of claw marks indented the ground where my back had been. I then glanced over at the fallen tree and got an idea. Backing up to where it had fallen, I waited for the Omega to attack and sure enough, it slashed at me with a strong right paw. I used both gauntlets to block the attack and drop-kicked the beast in the chest, forcing it backwards as I leapt off the ground, picked up the fallen tree, swung it to sweep out the legs from underneath it, and smashed the makeshift weapon downwards onto its stomach, cracking a few more plates of bone armor. Again, the Omega was weakened, although this time, it didn't immediately get up. Instead, it rolled over, lazily placed one paw on the ground next to it and pushed itself up. Blood loss looked to have also been catching up as it I noticed it relying more on the right hind leg than the left.

 _Good, it's almost dead._ I then felt exhaustion catching up with me as my muscles and bones began to ache in pain. _Then again, so am I._ I thought. If I had to guess my aura level was probably less than ten percent giving how I felt and how hard I'd been hit. Again, I rushed the monstrosity and prepared to stab at the vulnerability on its chest. The Omega dodged the hit and quickly lowered its mouth to my lower stomach and closed its jaws around my soft midsection. With both gauntlets, I smashed the creature's temple, disorienting it and sending it reeling backwards. As retaliation, I attempted to deliver another blow to the head with a left hook, only for the Omega to tilt its head up, my fist hitting nothing but air. On reflex, I pulled my left arm back and smashed my elbow into the Omega's head, causing it to perform a one-eighty spin. I wrapped my right arm around its throat in a choke-hold and with every last bit of strength I had left, impaled Pollux's blade through its back, going straight through an armored plate and resurfacing on the creature's unprotected chest. I jolted the left blade downwards, causing it to break off inside the creature, blood flowing freely out of both ends of the wound, staining the already wet green grass.

I looked at the other beowolves that formed the arena as the body of the Omega dropped lifelessly to the ground and began to slowly disintegrate. "WHO'S NEXT!?" I shouted as another crack of thunder rang out.

As if to answer my question, an Alpha appeared from the mouth of the cave and stepped into the arena, brushing aside its underlings as it started sprinting towards me, already moving to bite my head, it's mouth open with fangs bared. I blocked the attack by letting its mouth bite down on Castor instead. I slid my right hand out from the gauntlet and unsheathed Dusk, slashed the Alpha across the chest, causing it to howl in pain and let go of my right gauntlet. I kicked the beast in the chest causing it to fall backwards, sheathed Andrea's sword, picked up the Alpha by its upper and lower back, raised the wolf-grimm in the air and with a primitive shout, slammed it onto my knee, shattering its spine. It whined in pain like the overgrown dog it was and still not satisfied with my work, I took out Dusk placed the blade on the back of its neck and pushed down with my foot, decapitating the creature.

I let out a deep breath, picked up the disintegrating, severed head, tendons and veins letting blood pour from the skull and threw it at the observing beowolves, who gazed at it for a moment before slinking back into the forest without so much as a sound.

I looked around, astonished. They left me alone and I'd won. I chuckled slightly and pain resonated from my stomach, making me flinch. I touched my stomach, removed my hand and saw red. I looked down to see blood flowing quickly out of four large, pin-like holes in my side from where the Omega had bitten me. The bite must've taken out the last of my aura while adrenaline assisted in ignoring the pain. My semblance deactivated as I held my hand over the wound, limped over to the stump of the broken tree, sat down and waited for death, rain still pouring down from the sky and drenching my mud-caked clothes.

"Least I finally did something decent." I thought aloud with a small chuckle. As I waited for the inevitable embrace of the afterlife, my body grew warm despite my wet clothes and cold surroundings. Not what I expected, but welcome nonetheless. I leaned my head back, took one last breath of air and closed my eyes.

I found myself in a paved stone tunnel with a blinding white light at the end, just as I had always heard about. I was wearing the clothes I had worn on initiation day, a black hoodie, white t-shirt and blue jeans. I looked behind me and saw nothing but darkness, so I decided to step forward towards the light. After a few steps, three figures stepped out of the shadows and I stopped; two emerged from the right and one from the left. The one on the left I recognized as Andrea, wearing her a dark blue tank top with black jeans while she smiled as she stood in the middle of the tunnel. The other two people on the right I immediately recognized as the wolf-twins Elias and Denara, both of them wearing the clothes I first saw them in, Elias sporting his black leather jacket and green cargo pants while Denara was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a red t-shirt and a pair of red jeans, smiling widely while Elias gave me a smirk.

I felt myself grin as I saw their faces. "G-guys… I… it's been so long." Tears of joy began to well up in my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away.

"It's good to see you too, Joe." Elias said with a nod, standing on Andrea's left side with Denara on her right.

"We've been watching your progress at Beacon since initiation day and you've done extremely well." Denara said with a fantastic smile.

"Thanks. That really means a lot." I replied, still grinning. "I guess now we'll have lots of time to catch up." I said with a light laugh.

Andrea's smile faded. "Actually Joe, we don't. It's not your time."

I gave her a confused look. "Yeah, it is. I bled out from the bite." Then, without warning, something hit me hard in the chest, knocking the wind out of my lungs and forcing me to take a knee.

I looked up at Andrea while the wolf-twins rushed to my side to pick me up and kept a hand on either of my shoulders. "Joe," She started in that ever-caring tone. "You took a pretty hard hit, but the living aren't done with you and we're not ready to receive you, so you are in no way dead."

I took another invisible blow to the chest but the wolf-twins kept me from falling. I struggled to regain my breath and tried to step towards the light, but the wolf-twins held me in place. I looked to Elias for support, but he just shook his head.

"Sorry, but she's right. Get back to Remnant, back to Beacon. Back to Velvet." My eyebrows shot up as Andrea took two steps towards me and kicked me in the chest with an amazing amount of strength I forgot she possessed. The kick sent me flying backwards, out of the wolf-twins grasp and into the darkness behind me.

More darkness. That was all I was aware of for a few seconds. I could hear several voices whispering, but I was unable to move any of my limbs. The only things I could feel were my lungs, throat, eyes and head. I barely had the strength to push my eyelids away to allow for me to see. There were four blurry figures, a light and a white background. Slowly, the voices became clearer and I was able to make out some of the words between the people.

"…Back!" One voice cheered.

"…Beat?" Another asked.

"Slow...needs…stabilized." Hospital? I thought. My vision became slightly clearer as I squinted and began to realize that yes; I was indeed in a hospital. I didn't recognize the room as the Beacon infirmary so I must've been in an actual hospital. I realized I was also wearing an oxygen mask as I slowly exhaled and the plastic steamed up. I blinked a few more times and could clearly see two doctors putting away a defibrillator while the other two changed out a blood pack hooked up to my arm.

I felt the strength return to my arm and I tried to remove my mask so that I could talk. My brain sent the order to my arm, but it just flailed around lazily, hitting my own face. A doctor immediately grabbed my arm, put it on the bed and removed the mask for me.

"Wha-wha ha…ha…" I couldn't inhale the right amount of air to ask the question.

"Just take it easy, Mr. Taren. Five people from the village of Hishan found you leaning against a stump while you bled out and brought you here. You're in the Vale city hospital, safe and sound." The doctor explained as he placed the mask back over my mouth and nose. "You lost a lot of blood so and were legally dead for a minute and fifteen seconds so right now, we just need you to sit back and let us work." He said sternly. I gave him a small nod and slipped into a state of unconsciousness _._


	20. Homecoming

I was awake on my bed, every single one of my muscles sore, wearing a standard hospital gown with an IV drip in my arm, just staring at my normal clothes along with a fresh pair of socks while my armor and weapons that all rested on the empty chair in my room while my duffle bag was on the ground next to it. The doctor who had revived me walked in carrying a clipboard wearing a white coat with a nametag that read Dr. Charles overtop of his orange t-shirt and blue jeans. He examined the piece of paper attached to the cardboard as he leaned up against the empty wall adjacent to my nightstand on the right side of the hospital bed. "Well Mr. Taren, it looks like the bite we stitched up is no longer a problem, although I'm still concerned about the marks on your stomach and back, as well as the fact that your aura hasn't fully regenerated yet." I had woken up earlier that morning with almost no energy, not being able to sleep after my close encounter with death and almost literally killing myself worrying about Velvet. Did she know by now? Did Ozpin tell her or my team anything yet?

"You sure you can't get me out of here any earlier, Charley?" I pleaded with the thirty-year-old man. He didn't even let me have my scroll so I doubted that anyone outside of Hishan knew that the Omega was dead. From what I had been told though, the headmaster already knew that I was in the hospital, but that was about it.

Charley shook his head. "Sorry Mr. Taren, but you've only been awake for a few hours and you were unconscious for two full days so it'll be a while longer until you're out of here, but I **can** give you back your scroll." He said as he handed the small device to me.

"What about visitors?" I asked, taking my phone from his hand.

He shook his head again, the long brown hair getting in his eyes. "Not until tomorrow."

I let out an exasperated sigh, my stomach aching from the unnecessary exertion. "That it?" I asked, wanting for him to get out of my hair.

He nodded. "Unless you're hungry."

"Not just yet." I lied.

"Okay then, I'll leave you to rest." He said as he closed the door to my room.

I turned on my scroll and looked at the wallpaper of Velvet and myself smiling as we hugged each other. I smiled to myself and let out a light laugh as I dialled Ozpin's office number. The line rang only once before the Professor picked up.

"Yes?"

"Professor, it's Joseph Taren."

"Mr. Taren, it's excellent to hear from you. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine professor, thank you for asking. The Omega is dead and the village of Hishan is safe."

"Excellent job! I don't think I need to tell you that eliminating an Omega is no small feat." He said with an unfamiliar tone of enthusiasm. "Thanks to you, those villagers will now be able to rest easy."

"Yes, after I killed the Omega, the other beowolves ran, just as you said." I stated. "I'm still confused as to why, though."

"It's the same principle as soldiers seeing their leader fall in battle. Their morale plummets and they are unsure of what to do next so the most logical option to them at that time must've been to retreat." He paused. "Have you informed your teammates of your condition?"

"No." I said simply. "I thought it better to inform you of the mission success prior to doing so."

"Mr. Taren." Ozpin's voice took on a serious tone. "When was the last time you communicated with them?"

"Hmm, maybe three or four days ago." I stated.

"And they have no idea where you are?"

"Not-not that I'm aware of, sir." I answered, starting to get nervous at how serious Ozpin was sounding.

"Mr. Taren, while I believe that a huntsman's mission is important, friends are just as significant. The mission details could've waited until you are discharged from the hospital but your friends are most likely wondering why a member of their social group hasn't spoken to them in four days. They are probably imagining that the worst has happened and will never see you again." He waited for a moment. "Is that what you want?" He almost yelled into the phone.

"N-no sir." I replied quietly, ashamed of my stupidity.

"Call them. Now." He ordered, his normally friendly tone of voice replaced by anger.

"What about the mission? What do I tell them?" I asked quickly.

"Declassified." The headmaster stated before hanging up.

I ran a hand through my dishevelled blue hair and exhaled deeply. _What the fuck was I thinking, putting my friends through worrying about me when I could've just given them a quick call to at least let them know I was alive?_ I thought as my fingers dialled Jaune's number. The line rang once, twice, three times and finally, my team leader picked up.

"Hello?" He asked. Right away, I knew that Jaune wasn't his normal self. His voice held a tone that made it sound like his mouth made the vocalization, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Jaune. It's Joe." A moment of silence passed. "Jaune? You still there?" I asked.

"Where were you?" He asked concerned. "Every single one of us was terrified when we didn't' hear from you yesterday! The day before, we just figured you were busy on that assignment from Ozpin, but Velvet said that she phoned you last night and you didn't pick up even though you always do!"

I stopped, confused. "Every single one of us?" I repeated.

"Yeah! Team RWBY, myself, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren and Velvet."

 _Wow. I knew Velvet might be concerned, but I didn't think that I mattered that much to my team or RWBY._ I thought _._ I always thought of myself as an unwelcome burden to their lives. "Wow... I-I'm sorry I didn't call you guys earlier then."

"Don't worry about it." He replied. "That was then, this is now. And speaking of now, where exactly on Remnant are you at the moment?"

I sighed before answering. "Vale city hospital."

"WHAT?! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Jaune yelled, half concerned, half angry with me.

"Jaune, it's a long story and I think that I'd much rather tell you about it when I get back to Beacon."

I heard him let out a deep breath. "Fine. I'm coming down to visit you."

"They're not letting me have any visitors until tomorrow." I stated. "And they're not going to let me out until a few days after."

"I'll talk to Professor Ozpin about it then."

Again, I was astonished that Jaune was willing to go out of his way to help me out. "You really don't have to." I said.

"Oh… uh, did you want to stay in there for a while?" He asked without a hint of judgment or sarcasm.

"No! Not at all, it's just that I don't want you to go through extra lengths for me when you don't have to." I replied quickly.

"Joe, I've said it once, I've said it a million times: you're my teammate and teammates help each other. So please accept my help when I offer it." He said sternly.

I shrugged. "All right then, if you think that Ozpin can reduce the time I spend in here, then go for it." I said with admiration for my team leader.

"On it. Hey, by the way, have you talked to Velvet yet?" Jaune asked.

"Uh…no she's next on my list though."

"Okay, but if I were you, I'd hang up and call her like, right now." He said with concern.

"Why's that?"

"Over the past seventy-two hours, she's been fluctuating between angry and depressed and right now, she's deep into the depression stage."

"Fuck." I mumbled under my breath as I hung up the scroll and immediately dialled my girlfriend's number. The line rang repeatedly. "Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up." I begged. No answer. I took the needle out of my arm, removed the bandage, put down my scroll on the nightstand, dropped my bare feet to the cold floor and staggered towards the chair, my side screaming out in protest. Thankfully, the hospital staff had washed my clothes once I got admitted to the hospital and the Hishan militia had recovered my gauntlets from the forest, so I was ready go once I had changed from the green hospital gown into my black hoodie, t-shirt and jeans with gauntlets on my arms, Dusk at my side and the mask in my hoodie pocket with my scroll in hand. I began to walk out the door when my doctor rushed in.

"Mr. Taren! What are you doing?! Get back into bed!" He ordered.

I shook my head. "Not happening. I have to-to get out of here." I said as my side ached in pain again and I held a hand against it to minimize the discomfort.

"Don't care, get back into bed now." He repeated.

I held up a finger. "Just one second." After dialling Professor Ozpin's number and the headmaster picked up, I put it on speakerphone. "Hello Professor, it's Joseph Taren again. My doctor says that I should be in bed, resting when I'm perfectly capable of walking under my own power."

"I was just suggesting that it might be a good idea given his condition." Charley argued.

"Really? 'Cuz it sounded more like an order to me." I stated.

"Doctor, if Mr. Taren says that he is capable of walking and ready to be released from the hospital, then I suggest you oblige him." Ozpin said over the phone.

"But his injuries…"

"Can be taken care of here at the Beacon academy infirmary." He interrupted, making me smirk.

Charley sighed. "Very well, Professor, I will allow Mr. Taren to leave, but he must rest or risk furthering his injuries."

"And I will be sure that he gets it. Thank you for your cooperation, doctor."

I hung up, stuffed the device in my jeans pocket and grabbed my duffle bag, slinging it over my shoulder as Charley left the room with his arms raised in frustration. I made my way slowly and shakily down the hallway towards the elevator, one hand on my side and the other bracing up against whatever solid surface would support my weight. After what seemed like half an hour, I got to the elevator and hit the button for the first floor, leaning myself against the back wall.

The car dinged as it got to its destination and I was greeted by the sight of several new patients awaiting admittance to the hospital, their ailments ranging from a small cough to what looked to be a second-degree burn.

"How the hell are you standing?" A voice asked. I looked around to see Grace sitting in one of the chairs in the lobby with a smirk on her face.

I shrugged. "Two days' recovery helps." I moved forward and nearly tripped on the transition from the elevator to the floor, Grace rushing to my side to help support my weight.

"You huntsmen are so damn stubborn, you know that?" She said, still smirking.

"Determined." I corrected her.

She laughed and shook her head as she led me towards the exit of the lobby. "Sure, 'determination'. That's what got you bleeding out in a forest and would've gotten you killed had Henry and the rest of us not shown up."

 _Right. 'Would've.'_ I thought. "Hey, where are you taking me?"

"Anywhere you want to go." She said as we walked outside to a waiting car.

"This yours?" I asked, gesturing to the red sedan.

"Sister's. She lets me borrow it whenever I come to visit Vale." I nodded and got in the passenger seat as Grace let go of my arm and entered the driver's seat. "So? Where to?"

"Airship docks. Gotta get back to Beacon before Velvet starts checking the obituaries." I said without humor.

Grace nodded back and started up the car. "You know, I'm so happy that I didn't have to pass along your message. Did it once, not a fan." She said grimly as the vehicle pulled into traffic.

I looked at the older woman. "You had to pass along someone else's last words?"

She just nodded. "Yeah. That's why I left the military. It just took so much of an emotional toll."

"Ah." The rest of the car ride was spent in silence as we neared the docks.

"So, you gonna be okay from here, Wardog?" She asked as the car stopped in an empty parking space.

I smiled at the mention of my radio name. "Yeah, I'll be fine." I extended my hand while keeping the other over my side. "Thanks for the ride, Grace."

She smiled back as she shook my hand. "You killed an Omega for us. That's a pretty damn big debt. Figure I might as well start repaying it now."

"Well don't expect me to accept any other payment than a few favors." I said sternly. Grace nodded at me and I got out of the car and entered the next airship that was en-route to Beacon.

 _What am I going to say when I get there? Who should I visit first?_ I questioned myself as the ship moved at what felt like a snail's pace to our destination. Finally though, the aircraft docked and I descended the ramp as slowly as I could while still standing. As I took in the sights, sounds and smells of the familiar grounds, I smiled. I was at my home away from home, where I belonged.

I walked off the ramp and towards team CFVY's dorm, hoping to find the one I loved there. Much to my surprise and happiness though, as I passed the statue in the middle of the courtyard, I noticed the face of Velvet approaching from the dorms wearing her brown hoodie, light brown t-shirt and blue jeans.

I broke into a massive grin and felt tears of joy in my eyes. I'd almost forgotten how beautiful she looked this time of day. Nothing about her wardrobe had changed, she hadn't done anything different with her hair or makeup, the only thing that made her look different was the way the sun shone off her skin.

"Velvet. I… it's so good to-" That was as far as I got before she punched me with incredible force right in the face, knocking me to the ground and making me drop my bag. On any other day, that would've been an impressive feat, but not only was I not expecting it, but I was in a weakened state, making it even easier.

"WHAT THE HELL, JOE?!" I looked up at her unusually outraged face. "THREE FUCKING DAYS AND I HEAR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FROM YOU!"

"I was…"

"UNACCEPTABLE!" She shouted at me before storming off towards the dorms. I should've been mad at her for hitting and screaming at me, but I couldn't say that I was. I think that in her situation, I would've felt the same way. I spit out a globule of blood onto the stone walkway and struggled to my feet before two pairs of hands slid under my arms.

"Hey, you okay, Joe?" Jaune asked as he stood in front of me.

I let out a grunt as I looked to my left and right and noticed Pyrrha and Ren hoisting me to my feet, supporting my weight. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What was that?" He said, gesturing to where Velvet had walked off to. "What happened?"

"Same thing I did to you guys. I didn't phone and worse yet, I wasn't there for her when she had a nightmare."

"What mission was so important that you couldn't tell us?" Nora asked, popping into the conversation next to Jaune.

My eyebrows shot up and I looked at Jaune, who had his arms crossed. "We know you weren't on a delivery assignment for Ozpin. He told me you were on a mission and that you'd tell us what it was."

I sighed. "Later. I think I just need some food now. Hey Nora, can you do me a favor and grab my bag and put it in the room?" Her and the rest of my teammates nodded in understanding while our resident Champion and Lotus Ninja walked me to the cafeteria and sat me down at a table.

"How hungry are you on a scale of one to Nora?" Jaune asked with a smirk.

My stomach grumbled and I smiled at my team leader. "Probably an eight. No scrambled eggs please." I said, remembering the military-grade food I ate at Hishan.

"Well Joe, now that you're back at Beacon, what do you think you'll do after breakfast?" Ren asked.

"Honestly, I'm conflicted between telling you guys about the mission and talking to Velvet."

"Speak to Velvet." Pyrrha immediately answered. "She missed you Joe, we all did. But the details can wait, so it's best that you talk to her first, she's been a wreck since the day before last."

"You sure you guys don't mind waiting?" I asked.

"We waited three days, Blay-boy, a few more hours won't hurt." Yang said, taking a seat across from me, the rest of her team following suit.

"Yang's right Joe, go talk to Velvet. She's your girlfriend. She needs you now more than ever. And if there's anything you need, just ask." Ruby interjected while Weiss and Blake merely nodded in agreement with their leader.

I chuckled. _Is that little Reaper really fifteen, or is she an old sage woman trapped in a fifteen-year-old girl's body?_ "Well, if you really want to help," I took off my armor, mask, gauntlets and Dusk and placed them all on the table "Then you can put these in my locker." Ruby nodded at me, I quickly finished my breakfast and got up to head to the dorms, but my legs gave out on me. I fell and Jaune moved to help me up but I stopped him with an open hand.

"I'll-I'll be okay. My muscles are just a little sore is all." I said with a pained groan and a fake smile as I pushed myself up and pain once again resonated from the bite marks in my stomach. After taking a deep breath, I exited the cafeteria and carefully made my way up the dorm stairs to team CFVY's room and I knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Fox called.

"Joseph." I replied, hoping that he'd at least remember my name.

"One second." He called back. I waited and he opened the door, quickly closed it behind him and stepped out into the hallway. I managed to get a quick glance inside the dorm, but what I saw shattered my heart. Velvet was sitting on her bed, clutching her knees close to her chest with tears flowing down her cheeks.

I immediately moved to open the door again, but Fox put a hand on my chest. "Where the hell were you?" He asked in a threatening tone.

"On mission. Get out of my way, Fox." I replied, reaching for the doorknob again.

He pushed me away with his hand and I stumbled backward into the wall. "Choose your next words carefully, Taren. Otherwise you'll have a whole second year team hunting you down." He said, his face an inch away from mine before he walked off down the hall.

I scoffed at him before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door again. "Velvet? It's Joe." No response. "I don't blame you for being mad at me. Just give me a chance to explain, please." After a moment, I heard quiet footsteps on the other side of the door. Velvet opened it, wiped away the tears in her eyes and sat back on her bed, assuming the same position I saw her in earlier. I limped into the room and took a seat on the bed next to hers, waiting for her to say something.

"Why'd you leave?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"A mission for Professor Ozpin. Had to deal with a threat near a village just north of Vale."

"And you didn't even bother to tell me?" She asked, keeping her gaze away from me.

"I couldn't, it was a classified mission and Ozpin didn't want anyone finding out about it. Said the fear of an Omega would bring other grimm towards Beacon."

At that statement, she slowly turned her gaze towards me. "That still doesn't explain why you didn't call me back."

"Velvet, please believe me when I say that I tried to earlier this morning, you just didn't pick up."

She nodded. "I misplaced my scroll. But what about Tuesday night, when I called you? Why didn't you pick up then?"

"Tuesday?" I asked. During my time in the hospital, I'd completely lost track of time and had no idea what day it was.

"Two days ago." She rephrased.

"Yeah about that, I was unconscious during that time, so as much as I wanted to, I couldn't talk to you."

"You-you were unconscious?" She asked. "How badly were you hurt?"

I exhaled deeply and lifted my shirt to show her the multiple bruises I had received during my bout with the massive beowolf as well as the four stitched up bite marks.

"After being admitted to the hospital, the docs told me that I had bled out and died."

"It-it killed you?"

I sighed and nodded. "Yeah. And **you** brought me back to life without even knowing it." I stated, hiding my injuries.

Her face bore a confused expression. "What?"

"Velvet, you're the reason I'm alive today. Hell, you're the reason I get up every morning." I said as I sat at the foot of her bed. "I can't imagine my life without you and I'd do anything to make you happy."

Velvet let go of her knees and grabbed my hand. "Joe, I-I'm so sorry, I had no idea…" Her voice became increasingly unstable as she spoke.

"Exactly." I interrupted. "You had no idea what was going on, you didn't know that I was unconscious or the extent of my injuries. This is all on me for being an idiot and letting that Omega get in as many hits as it did." I bit my lower lip to hold back a choked sob and sighed shakily, tears starting to form in my eyes. "I can't apologize enough for making you worry about me and I won't blame you if you don't forgive me." I stood and made for the door before Velvet stopped me.

"But I do." She said.

I turned around, surprised and leaned up against the door. "Y-you forgive me?" She nodded. "But I…" Velvet held up a finger, walked forward and kissed me. After spending four days without any physical affection, this was incredibly welcome. She gently pressed her lips against mine, the silent gesture speaking a thousand words. After breaking away, she hugged me.

"It's all right Joe, just don't do it again." Her voice was much more stable now.

I put my arms around her waist and smiled. "I'll try not to." She giggled back and my smile grew wider. "So the doctor told me I needed to rest and since I guess I owe you for not cuddling, why not kill two birds with one stone?" I offered.

"Your dorm?" She asked, her arms still wrapped around my neck. I replied with a kiss of my own, cupping her cheek, locking her lips with mine and holding her closer. My lungs alerted me to the lack of air and I slowly released from the connection to find Velvet smiling back.

"That answer your question?" I asked with a smirk.

She nodded. "Go let Ozpin know about your mission and we'll meet in the cafeteria for dinner at five-thirty."

"Okay. I love you."

"Love you too, baby." She replied, easing my mental tension. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving the dorm, a grin on my face and hands in my pockets as I walked towards the large tower that served as Ozpin's office. My physical pain was still present but after my visit with Velvet, I could finally think clearly, as if a lighthouse had been built in my brain, pushing away the fog.

I hit the button for the top floor and waited as the car rose. I entered the Headmaster's office to find him sitting behind his desk, fingers tented. I didn't even wait for him to invite me to sit down before I took a seat in the chair in front of his desk.

Ozpin nodded at me. "Have you spoken to your friends?" I nodded back. "What about Ms. Scarlatina?"

"I conversed with her, yes." I stated. "Why are you asking about her?"

"Mr. Taren, I am fully aware of the relationship between her and yourself, as I am about Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos."

"Okay, let me say this first: I really don't care if you approve of our relationship or not. I am not breaking up with her, even if you tell me to. Hell will freeze over before that happens." I said with a glare.

Ozpin smirked and chuckled. "I have no qualms with students finding love amongst each other. I think what you both have is magnificent and you both should cherish every moment of it." That kind of took me off guard. I thought for sure that he'd disapprove and say some bullshit about how 'it's not permitted'. "How is she?"

"She's good. A little hurt at first, but we eventually worked everything out."

"Ah. Anyway, I'll get right to it; how did the mission go?"

"The village was attacked the day after I got there, I found where the Omega made its den and killed it along with a rivalling Alpha that tried to take over after the Omega died."

"Well, that's certainly an extraordinary achievement, and you managed to cheat death in the aftermath. I will make sure that extra credit is added to your academic record."

"Thank you Professor. Was that all?"

He nodded. "You are dismissed, Mr. Taren, go and get some rest, you've definitely earned it."

I shakily stood up and limped over to the elevator, hitting the button for the ground floor as I leaned against the back of the car. I spent the rest of the day catching up with my team and RWBY, explaining what happened both on-mission and when I was in the hospital.

"So Ozpin sent you on what was essentially a suicide mission without even telling us?" Weiss asked in disbelief as we sat in the cafeteria.

"But for good reason." I said to the heiress. "If you'd known, the secret eventually would've gotten out that an Omega was close to Vale and you guys know what negative emotions bring." I heard murmurs of agreement from everyone at the table. "Oh! By the way Ruby, you still want to help?"

The little Reaper nodded ecstatically. "What'd you need?"

"Well, my gauntlets aren't exactly in perfect condition right now. Castor is dented from when that Alpha chewed on it and the blade on Pollux is completely broken so I was wondering if you'd maybe assist me in making some repairs?"

It came as no surprise that Ruby was happy to help me out with my weapons. It was like she shared a language with the tools of death, knowing all their secrets and how they functioned at a single glance.

"What are you going to use in the meantime?" Blake asked.

I shrugged at the cat-girl. "Dusk, I guess. That's really my only option."

"Your friend from Signal's sword?" Jaune asked.

"That's the one. I've just gotta get the fighting style down."

"You may have skill in fighting style, but clothing's a whole different ball park." I heard Velvet tease as she approached from behind with a smirk on her face.

"What's wrong with a hoodie, t-shirt and jeans?" I asked.

"Well, for starters, it's an overdone look, not to mention about the only thing you ever wear. At least Vomit-boy bothered to personalize his clothes with armor." Yang interjected.

I shot her a glare as Velvet sat next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. "Not helping."

My girlfriend let out a muffled giggle. "I never said I was complaining though." She added.

Before I could reply, a low rumble erupted, echoing out all throughout the building. We all looked to Nora, who merely shrugged. "What? I'm hungry."

After a good laugh, we nodded in agreement and grabbed meals of our own. Ren then informed me that one of the other Professors at Beacon could teach me how to properly use Dusk and if not, then he said he would tutor me himself. As it turned out, he once contemplated using a sword, but decided against it when he discovered the versatility of his current weapons.

"Hey, how'd you guys do in the tournament by the way?" I asked everyone.

"Well, Pyrrha brought victory to Beacon, as expected." Jaune said with a smile while the Champion blushed. "She won in the finals against this guy from Haven who almost looked like a shadow, he dressed in all black and his semblance was disappearing into a cloud of smoke, then reappearing somewhere else. Think his name was Onyx or something.

"Yeah, that's right. He put up a pretty good fight." Pyrrha stated.

"Yang lost when she fought against a pyromancer who used her semblance against her." Weiss supplied.

"How was I supposed to know he could control fire?" Yang asked.

"Probably by paying attention to the other matches." Her partner offered. Yang grunted as she dug further into her meal.

"So, you guys have any plans for Dustmas break?" I asked, curious about what my friends would be doing during the respite that was just a week away.

"Me and Ruby invited Weiss and Blake to spend it with us at our home in Patch." Yang spoke up.

I looked at the ice queen astonished. "Actually, about that, Yang, I won't be going. Neptune offered to take me to visit Mistral."

Yang raised an eyebrow at this. "Why?"

"It's the one kingdom on Remnant I haven't visited yet!" She cried defensively.

"Sure, just keep telling yourself **that's** the reason why you're going, ice queen." Yang said with a smirk while Weiss bowed her head to try and hide the blush forming on her face.

"As long as I can get some peace and quiet, I'm more than happy to go." The cat-faunus added. _Probably going to spend the whole time reading._ I thought with a chuckle. I looked at my team. "What about you guys?"

I saw Pyrrha blush again while Jaune spoke. "Since me and Pyrrha have been together for a while now, we figured that it's about time we met each other's families. And with the break coming up, there's no time like the present, right?" He said with a nervous laugh.

I nodded. "Okay, Ren?"

"Me and Nora are going just going to stay here and celebrate the holidays at Beacon and in Vale."

"But not together-together." Our bubbly hammer-wielder added quickly.

Velvet lifted her head off my shoulder. "What about you? Any plans for the holidays?" She asked me.

"No, not really. Just resting up and exercising." I stated.

Her face brightened up slightly. "Oh. Okay." I furrowed my brow in confusion but decided to worry about it later. After I finished my meal, exhaustion caught up with me and I soon found my eyelids drooping.

Velvet seemed to notice as she shook my shoulder to wake me up. "Hey, let's get you to bed."

"Wow not even trying to avoid the innuendo huh, Velv?" Yang asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, real funny little miss firestarter." I retorted as my girlfriend supported my weight and more or less dragged me to my dorm. I unlocked the door with my scroll and pushed it open, limping over to my bed. I sat down on the soft mattress and let out a breath of relief. _So good to be back._

"Okay, you change into your pj's and I'll do the same."

I smirked. "I don't think mine'll fit you."

She smiled back, shook her head and left, closing the door behind her. I changed into my sleepwear and got into bed. I looked around the room and noticed a few things that were different since I'd been here last. Above Jaune and Pyrrha's bed was a framed gold medal with the Vytal tournament symbol on it and above the window, a wide framed picture of my teammates taken in the middle of the coliseum, Jaune and Pyrrha with arms around each other's shoulders and grins on their faces with Nora bear-hugging Ren who, despite being crushed, was smiling. Fatigue quickly threatened to push me into the realm of dreams but Velvet crept in next to me wearing a brown t-shirt and a pair of light brown lounge pants, putting her head on my chest as I wrapped an arm around her waist, sharing my body heat with her own.

"You have no idea how much I missed you." I whispered.

She giggled back and we lay in a comfortable silence before she spoke. "Hey Joe?"

"Hmm?" I grunted out.

"I-I think that we should follow in Jaune and Pyrrha's footsteps." She said nervously.

I furrowed my brow in confusion. "How do you mean?"

"I think we should meet each other's parents." Velvet stated.

My eyes shot open as realization dawned on me. "I-uh-that…what?" I stuttered out.

Velvet's cheeks turned beet red and buried her face further into my chest. "S-sorry, I…I didn't mean to be blunt."

"It's all right, it was just a little… sudden." Was the best word I could think of. "Uh, when?" I asked nervously.

"Well, maybe during the Dustmas break?" She offered. "You said you'd just be sitting around here so I just figured… you know, why not give you something to do?" She said, sounding just as nervous as I was.

 _Wow, either lay around Beacon exercising and sleeping, or spending the week with my girlfriend?_ Another extremely easy choice.

"No, it's-it's fine." I put a finger under her chin to meet her gaze. "I don't have a problem with meeting your parents." She smiled. "Would you feel up to meeting mine? I haven't spoken to them since I got to Beacon so I think it'd be a good chance to introduce you to them as well as catch up."

Velvet nodded. "Absolutely. It's only fair. How about we spend three days with my parents and three with yours, leaving two days for travelling and the rest of the break just for us?"

I nodded. "Sounds good. Do you mind if we spend Dustmas eve and day with your family though? It's just that I've spent enough holidays with my family that I'd just like to switch it up for once."

"Okay. That's no problem." She replied happily.

I grinned and gave her a loving kiss. "That's the best idea anyone's ever come up with."

Velvet grinned back and put her head back on my chest. I closed my eyes and almost was asleep when she whispered something. "Hey Joe?"

"Yeah?" I asked, my eyes remaining shut.

"I'm sorry I hit you. I was just angry and I shouldn't have taken my aggression out on you."

"It's okay. If anything, it makes me feel better."

"Better?"

"Yeah. If you can hit me like that when you're at your worst, I pity anyone who crosses paths with you on a good day." I replied.

She laughed again and I smiled widely before falling into a blissful sleep, more than happy to be back.


	21. A Nice Visit

The next week passed by incredibly slowly. Between classes, the upcoming break and the painfully slow recovery from my injuries, time seemed to slow down. Finally though, Friday rolled around and we were all sitting in Oobleck's history class as the clock ticked away. Nobody was paying attention to his lesson and I had no idea how the Doctor had couldn't see it.

"Ever since the faunus have been centered in Menagerie, the population of faunus across Remnant is now diluted into small pockets of settlements across the world, although moreso in Vacuo, due to the people's welcoming of both faunus and humans." My mind drifted over to Velvet and our plans for the break. It made me nervous thinking about meeting her parents, but I know that she wouldn't have said it if she wasn't ready to introduce me to them or if she thought it was a bad idea. We were going to be leaving tonight to make the flight to Vacuo, where Velvet was born and her parents currently lived.

The dismissal bell rang and I quickly picked up my books and headed for the dorm to pack for the trip. I opened the door to see my dorm room, decorations adorning the walls, everyone's beds, even mistletoe hanging in the doorway, all thanks to an overly-hyper Nora. And when I say 'overly-hyper' I mean almost breaking the sound barrier excited Nora. I took a look out the window and noticed that it was starting to snow again, large flakes of precipitation falling from the sky. The only things I really needed for the trip were a few t-shirts, hoodies, jeans, deodorant and a toothbrush, along with my normal pj's. It'd been a while since I just travelled recreationally, so I wasn't used to packing heavily. Using my duffle bag as a suitcase, I shoved everything I needed in the cloth container as Jaune and Pyrrha walked in.

"Going somewhere?" Pyrrha asked.

I turned around and nodded at the Champion. "Uh… yeah. I'm going to visit Velvet's parents in Vacuo with her over the break. We'll spend Dustmas eve and day with her parents and we'll leave for my parent's Dustmas day."

"When are you leaving?"

"Our flight leaves in four hours." I replied.

"It's kind of short notice, isn't it?" Jaune said.

I shrugged. "Well, we only decided to make the trip last week."

"Still though, wouldn't you rather wait until after Dustmas to meet each other's parents?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Nah, as much as I love my family, I'd like to spend the holiday with Velvet and her family this time."

Pyrrha smiled. "That's good, Joe. The holidays should be spent with those you love." She said while gazing into Jaune's eyes, while the blonde knight grinned in the same fashion I did whenever I was with the love of my life.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Pyrrha." Velvet said from the door as she entered the room with a smile. She turned her gaze to me. "Ready to go?"

I nodded back. "Yup, everything's packed, just gotta wait for the flight. You excited?" I asked with a smirk, already knowing the answer.

"Can't wait! My parents and siblings will love you!"

My brow furrowed. "How many siblings do you have?"

"Just my younger brother Chris and my older sister Kayla."

"Huh. Never knew that." I mumbled to myself. "Anyway, did you want to grab dinner in Vale or have something to eat here?" I asked, my voice returning to its normal volume.

"I think we should go to Sal's again. It'd be nice to see him before we left." She replied.

I nodded in agreement. "Sounds good. Meet you there in an hour?"

Velvet smiled, kissed me on the cheek and left for her own dorm. I grinned as she left and I turned my gaze back to my teammates, who both smiled.

"You really love her, don't you?" Pyrrha asked.

"You have no idea." I stated. I then looked over at Jaune. "Then again, maybe you do." I retracted my earlier statement with another grin.

After saying my goodbyes to the knight and champion, I found Ren and Nora, gave them goodbye hugs and left for Vale with my duffle bag/suitcase in tow. At least, that was the plan until Ruby and Yang intercepted me in front of the statue in the courtyard, both wearing thick winter coats, yellow for Yang and red for the little reaper.

"Leaving without saying goodbye, Blay-boy?" Yang asked with a smirk and crossed arms. She'd also forgone her usual black shorts in favor of a pair of bright yellow jeans.

I shrugged. "Didn't think you mind." Ruby then jumped forward and attached herself to my chest, making me drop my bag.

"Don't get killed again, Joe." She pleaded with me.

I sighed. "Ruby, I'm going on a vacation, not a mission." I said as I detached the pair of arms wrapped around my chest.

"Still might be dangerous." She said worriedly.

 _She is really not going to stop worrying_. I thought. "Okay how about this: when we both get back from our vacations, I'll buy you a box of chocolate chip cookies from your favorite bakery **if** you don't worry about me."

"Wait, what if she goes on a sugar rush?" Yang interjected, concerned.

"Then that'll be your problem, not mine." I said with a smirk.

The blonde brawler sighed and gave me a friendly hug. "You're an ass."

I scoffed and returned the hug. "Yeah, tell me something I don't know."

"Actually, that'd be pretty easy." She countered as we pulled away from the hug.

I smiled and walked past the sisters, picking up my bag along the way. "Have a good Dustmas guys. Tell Blake and Weiss I said 'hi'."

After that encounter, I made my way to the airship and headed down to Sal's small store in Vale. I entered the establishment and greeted the father of my late friends with a smile. "Hey Sal, how's it going?"

"Not too bad, business is still good." He replied cheerfully. I nodded. The place seemed to be doing well enough as just about every seat was occupied.

"Anyway, I'm supposed to be meeting Velvet here. Has she shown up yet?"

The old, muscular wolf-faunus shook his head. "Not yet. Her spot's wide open though." He said, gesturing to the empty booth in the back-right corner of the building. "You want me to get you some chicken noodle soup?"

I shook my head. "No thanks, I'll wait for her first." I said, taking a seat in the familiar booth, setting my bag underneath the table. Velvet arrived shortly after I had, wearing a black winter jacket overtop of her normal clothes with a rolling suitcase behind her. She walked up to the counter, conversed with Sal who pointed to me waiting in the booth. I gave her a smile and wave as she walked over.

"I ordered the chicken noodle for you." Velvet said as she placed her bag on the opposite side of the booth as she took a seat next to me.

"You remembered." I stated, slightly surprised.

"Well, yeah. How could I ever forget my best first date?" I felt my face heat up at that remark and couldn't find my words.

"Thanks… I-um…" I stuttered out.

Velvet chuckled and gave me a hug, effectively shutting me up. Sal quickly brought us our soups and we delved into them, consuming the delicious bowls of hot broth with vigor.

We quickly finished our dinners, but still had less than three hours until our flight, so we decided to wait near the boarding gate for our flight at the airport. With our bags dropped off and hopefully on the aircraft, we sat next to each other in the provided chairs and waited for our flight to be called. I was staring blankly at my scroll, going through old conversations when Velvet spoke up.

"Hey Joe?" She asked.

"Hmm?" I replied, still gazing at my messages.

"What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"Dying." She said quickly, obviously nervous about the subject.

I sighed and shut off my scroll as I recalled the event. "It's… I guess it's just like everyone describes it. There's a long tunnel with a light at the end." I summarized. "I think it's different for everyone though. I saw my friends from initiation day. Elias was the one who told me to get back to Remnant, back to Beacon." I looked her in the eye. "Back to you." I said with a smile.

Velvet blushed and leaned her head against my shoulder as I put an arm around her waist. "Did he really say that?" She asked after a moment of silence.

"You know I'd never lie to you." I spoke from the heart.

"Yeah." She chuckled lightly. "I guess not."

An attendant called out our flight number and we promptly boarded, now heading off to Vacuo. It was going to be an eight-hour flight and I had a lot of questions about Velvet's family.

"So are there any topics of conversation that I should avoid? Are all your siblings faunus just like you? Is your dad the stereotypical overprotective father, or is he more relaxed?" I quickly asked from the aisle seat while Velvet sat in the window seat next to me.

She chuckled at my nervousness. "Joe, calm down. No, there aren't any topics that you should avoid, my younger brother is a faunus like me, but my older sister is adopted and I guess my dad's not exactly super-protective, but he's not very relaxed either." She replied.

I exhaled deeply as I clenched my armrest. Velvet put her hand over mine and intertwined my fingers with her own. "Hey." She said soothingly. "My family's going to love you."

I gave her a small smile. "Here's hoping."

Thankfully, Velvet managed to dispel my anxious demeanour by filling me in on what her family was like, how they had adopted Kayla when she was just six years old, how her sister was two years older and her brother a year younger than Velvet was.

"So we just found her wandering the streets of Vacuo, thirsty, hungry with only the clothes on her back and nowhere to go."

"And your parents took her in?"

Velvet nodded. "Yeah. They felt bad for her and after trying to find her family, we adopted her. She's been a pretty good big sister to me. I can't recall any bad memories of her."

"So… does she know what she wants to be?"

"Yeah. A Psychologist. She likes helping people through less than conventional means." Velvet said with a laugh.

"Yeah. I can understand that." I replied.

"How about you?" She asked. "Any brothers or sisters?"

I smiled. "Not unless you count my uncles Castor and Pollux. They may be slightly older than my mom, but they behave like they're my age."

Velvet chuckled again. "So do you think you'll see them when we visit?"

"Oh there's no doubt. I'm their only nephew in Vale and they just seem to know whenever I'm close by."

"Are they both huntsmen?"

I shook my head. "Castor is, but Pollux is an engineer. He usually works on large-scale projects like buildings, but the one exception was when he helped me with my blades."

"Ah, okay."

Conversation continued to bounce between our families, what we'd do when we landed and where exactly we grew up. Thankfully, Velvet had grown up in a less desert-covered area of Vacuo and in more of a countryside, forested area away from the city. I had also learned that her father had enlisted with the Vacuan army reserves before leaving of his own volition to start a family of his own and become a mechanic at a garage. Her mother was a nurse at a hospital, very caring and apparently never stopped worrying about her three kids, even to this day.

After a few more hours, we finally landed in the city of Vacuo, the usually warm kingdom now wrapped in a cloak of snow and coldness. I'd never been there myself before today, only told what it had been like by my parents. We stepped off the plane and into the airport, additional snow starting to fall outside as we grabbed our luggage and walked outside where Velvet waved over a taxi for us. During the ride to her home, Velvet had fallen asleep in the vehicle and I couldn't say that it was completely her fault. It was three-fifteen in the morning and almost pitch dark, creating a very welcoming atmosphere for sleep. I however, was far too anxious to let sleep crawl into my thoughts.

 _What if her parents disapprove of me? Will we have to break up? What if her sister and brother don't like me? What then?_

The moonlight gave me a good view of the building surrounded by a fairly dense forest with the next piece of property being separated by at least an acre of land. We pulled up in front of a medium sized house with a concrete exterior, a large front window, two floors, a detached garage and a relatively short driveway. "That'll be twenty-three-fifty." The cab driver whispered, bringing me out of my stupor. I nodded back and gave him twenty-five lien.

"Hey, Velvet. We're here." You'd think I hit her with a shot of adrenaline judging by how fast she was moving. She instantly zipped out of the vehicle, pulled her suitcase out of the trunk and was already rushing me to do the same.

I let out a chuckle at her enthusiasm, got out of the car and slung my duffle bag over my shoulder. The taxi drove off and Velvet grabbed my hand and led me to the front door of the house where she knocked and waited for an answer.

"Are you sure your family will be up this time of night?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Chris is on leave from his training in the military, Kayla's classes are out for the semester and neither of my parents are working today." I cocked an eyebrow when Velvet mentioned her brother was in the military.

 _Better live up to their expectations._ I thought nervously. After another moment, a tall man with slightly elongated front teeth resembling a rabbit, blond hair, brown eyes wearing a light gray housecoat over a black long-sleeved shirt and plaid dark grey pajama pants opened the door.

"Dad!" Velvet shouted out as she enveloped the man in a hug.

He broke into a grin and returned the embrace. "So good to see you, Velvet." He turned his gaze to me and released his daughter. "Who is this?" He asked politely, although he also sounded slightly cautious.

I smiled at him and extended my hand. "Joseph Taren."

"My boyfriend." Velvet interjected happily.

He shook my hand and quickly released it. "Fallow Scarlatina." He replied. "So you're the one who's captured my daughter's heart. Well, come on in, get out of the cold." He said, gently pushing Velvet inside the house.

I followed suit and took off my winter jacket and shoes, placing them both in the closet directly adjacent to the door. The house was fairly cozy with a carpeted floor, a fabric couch up against the wall that separated the living room from the kitchen and dining room, a couple of chairs in two of the corners and a Dustmas tree decorated with lights and ornaments with several presents wrapped up and placed underneath in the corner closest to the door. On a large stand in the opposite corner of the Dustmas tree was an HDTV with a gaming console hooked up to it. At the end of the front door hardwood hallway was a set of stairs that led up to a second floor and to the right was another hallway that led to four rooms, three of which I was informed by Velvet were bedrooms while the fourth was a bathroom.

"The guest bedroom and my room are adjacent to each other while Chris' is across the hall and my parents sleep upstairs along with Kayla." Velvet said to me. "Mom asleep?" She asked her dad.

He nodded back. "I told her I'd stay up until you arrived. Both of you should get some sleep, you look haggard."

"Thanks, dad." Velvet replied sarcastically.

The faunus man smirked in response and climbed the stairs. "Goodnight, Velvet. Joseph." He called back.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding and turned to Velvet. "You think he hates me?" I asked quickly.

She sighed. "Joe, you had one short conversation. It's hard to judge a person in that amount of time." I massaged my forehead with one hand and Velvet motioned for me to follow her. She took a right down the hallway and opened the first door on her left to a bedroom with a mattress on a box spring with a nightstand and alarm clock directly next to it and a window. "Well, this is the guest room, the bathroom is straight across from here, there's two more bathrooms upstairs and my room is next to yours." She repeated.

I let out a light laugh. "I wish we were this close together at Beacon."

She giggled back and kissed me on the cheek before dragging her suitcase out of the room and into her own. I took off my hoodie and fell onto the soft bed, sleep continuing to elude me.

 _So, to sum up: piss off her dad, get beaten to death. Piss off her brother and have my neck snapped in my sleep. Piss off her sister and be mentally tortured for the duration of the stay. As for her mom, well…_ I didn't even want to begin to think what she might do if I accidentally did something to make the over-protective mother of the Scarlatina clan angry.

 _Watch your words, Joe. Watch. Your. Words._


	22. Meet The Family

I must've fallen asleep at some time during the night, as I found myself being awoken by someone knocking on my door. I glanced to my left and the time on the clock read 10:30.

"Come in." I called lazily as I sat up on the mattress. A guy who looked to be around my age with rabbit ears similar to Velvet's, very short, straight auburn hair and light green eyes opened the door. He was wearing a light red t-shirt which displayed a set of massive biceps and a pair of black pajama pants with red vertical stripes.

"Joseph, right?" He asked.

I nodded back and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "And you must be Chris."

"That's right. Breakfast is ready if you want some."

"Thanks. Velvet up yet?"

Chris shook his head. "Not yet." He then left and closed the door behind him.

"Wow. A man of few words." I mumbled and changed into my more comfortable pajamas. I put on a pair of pants and someone else knocked on the door. "Come in."

Velvet opened the door wearing a dark orange pajama t-shirt with the Shade academy insignia on the front and brown sweatpants, leaning up against the open door. "Chris come and say hi?" She asked.

I pulled my pajama shirt over my head and nodded. "Yeah, he seems nice. Quiet, but nice."

She chuckled. "The military life seems to have toned down how talkative he is."

I exhaled and sat back down on the bed. Velvet must've noticed how nervous I was as she sat down next to me and began to rub circles on my back. "Hey, let's go get something to eat."

I gave her a small smile before I noticed something. "Aren't you cold?" I asked, noticing her light clothing giving how cold it was outside.

"No, I'm fine." Her words attempted to deceive, but her body betrayed her as she shivered. I smirked and draped my hoodie over her shoulders. She smiled back and slipped her arms into the sleeves, her hands reaching just short of the wrist cuffs, creating one of the cutest sights of my life, one I would treasure forever.

She tugged me to my feet and followed her as she walked down the hall to the dining room where her sister, brother and dad were sitting at the table while her mom was in the kitchen cooking up tater tots, hash browns, eggs and bacon.

Velvet's father reached for the plate of bacon on the table, but a hand slapped it away. "What about that diet you were on, dad?" Kayla, Velvet's older sister, asked as she pulled the plate towards her. Her black hair was done up in a short ponytail and had bright orange eyes while she wore black sweatpants with a dark grey long-sleeved shirt with a black housecoat overtop.

"You know he never sticks to them." Chris stated as he bit into a piece of bacon.

"Sorry Hun, but he's right." Velvet's mom said with a shrug, her short brown hair waving slightly as she did so. She wore a dark blue housecoat overtop of a black long-sleeved shirt with black sweatpants.

"Sepia!" Fallow said with mock frustration.

Velvet bowed her head to suppress a laugh and cleared her throat. "Hey uh… mom, Kay, this is Joe. My…boyfriend." She said nervously.

I smiled at the ladies and waved at them. "Joseph Taren. But uh… just-just call me Joe."

Kayla waved back. "Hi Joe. In case little sis didn't tell you already, I'm Kayla, but everybody just calls me Kay. I really don't care which." She replied nonchalantly as she took a sip of coffee, her attitude slightly reminding me of Yang.

"Morning Joe, I'm Sepia, but just call me either Mrs. Scarlatina or by my first name. No formal stuff like 'ma'am.'" She kindly ordered with a smile.

"Okay, Sepia." I said with a nervous smile.

"Anyway, come and grab a plate as well as how much of whatever you like."

"Thanks." I said, getting a platter of tater tots, an egg and two pieces of bacon. I sat in an empty seat next to Chris while Velvet followed close behind and took the chair on my left.

"So Velvet's texted us about what you're like, but she's never bothered to tell us how you two first met." Kayla stated from the seat across from me.

I immediately got nervous as there was two ways I could answer that question. I leaned in next to Velvet and covered my mouth before whispering to her. "Should I tell her about when we first spoke or when I first saw you?" I asked, referring to 'The Cardin Incident.'

Velvet held a similar nervous expression on her face and leaned in. "When we first spoke." She whispered back.

I nodded and turned to the rest of her family, all of them bearing confused expressions. "I was coming back from talking with Professor Ozpin and I literally ran into her." I smiled to myself and chuckled as I recalled the memory. "We kept on blaming ourselves, but we eventually decided to both say we're sorry. Couple days later, same thing happened, she introduced me to her team and a few days after that, I asked her out." I summarized as Velvet held my hand and smiled.

"Well, it's good to know that you didn't try any pickup lines on her." Kayla said.

"Agreed." Fallow said, glaring at me.

I let out a nervous laugh, but Velvet came to my rescue. "So what are everyone's plans for today?" She asked everyone.

"Me and Chris finished our Dustmas shopping yesterday, so we were just planning on hanging around the house all day, getting some gaming done." Kayla said while her brother grunted in agreement.

"And your father's going to help me with baking some Dustmas goodies." Sepia added.

"Okay, well me and Joe are going into town to get some shopping in." Velvet declared. _Since when?_ I thought. _Actually, probably a good idea giving that her family probably wants to interrogate me._

I quickly finished my breakfast and almost gave Velvet a kiss on the top of the head before remembering that her parents were there. Thinking that a display of affection in front of her parents would inevitably lead to a situation of extreme awkwardness, I decided against it and headed off to my room to grab some clean clothes for the trip into Vacuo.

"H-hey Joe?" I heard a quiet voice call from behind me. I turned and saw Velvet nervously rubbing her arm. "Th-thanks for asking me about when we first met. I'd... I'd rather my family not find out about Cardin. Otherwise, they'd take the same measures as my team. I want them to know that I can take care of my own problems."

I waved her off. "It's okay, I know how much it bothers you. If I was in a situation like yours, I'd prefer to keep it to myself as well." I said in understanding.

She smiled back and kissed me on the lips before backing out of my room. "Do you mind if I have the first shower?"

I shrugged. "Your house." Velvet smiled again and I heard the door to her room open then close as she made her way to the bathroom.

I lay my head on the pillow of my bed and went through a conversation I'd been having with my uncles. I'd told them about how I was visiting Velvet's family and would be spending Dustmas eve and day at her place and would be spending three days with my parents. I was about to send another message when Chris burst into my room with a stern expression and crossed arms, closing the door behind him.

"What were you and Velvet whispering about earlier?" He demanded.

I shrugged and put my scroll on the nightstand. "Nothin' important." I casually replied.

"If it wasn't important, then why were you whispering about it?" He pushed further.

"It was just something a little embarrassing for me, that's all."

He smirked, but the small amount of mirth did not reach his eyes. He picked me up by the collar of my shirt, dragged me off the bed and slammed me up against an empty wall.

"Now I'm going to ask again, Joe. What. Did. You. Whisper?" He said threateningly.

I grunted and tried to release his grip on my shirt, but to no avail; his grasp was stronger than mine. I also didn't want to hit him otherwise I'd have to explain it to Velvet and that was going to be very difficult to try and describe. He backed up and slammed me against the wall again. "I have no problems giving you a couple bruises." Chris added.

"Believe me when I say that nothing you do or say is going to make me talk." I deadpanned at him.

He then held me in place against the wall with a beefy forearm and produced a knife from the inside of his shirt, pressing it against my throat. "Even if I bled you dry?"

I was about to say 'yes' when something else crossed my mind. "You-you don't actually want to know, do you?" I stated rather than asked.

Chris sighed and put away the knife, letting me go. "You're right. I really don't care. Kayla sent me in here while I believe that what goes on between you and Velvet is purely between the two of you."

"So… is Kayla apprehensive about me?"

Chris nodded and leaned against the door. "She thinks that you'll break her heart like all the others."

My brow furrowed in confusion. "And you don't think I might?" I asked. _Although hell will freeze over before that happens._

Chris smiled and shook his head. "No. I can tell by the way you look at her that you actually love her. That you'd die for her."

I scoffed at the remark. "Already have."

It was Chris' turn to look confused. "What?"

I chuckled at his response. "Yeah, I went up against an Omega Beowolf solo and it bit through my aura, causing me to bleed out, but not before I stabbed it through the back."

"When-when the fuck was this?!" He asked in disbelief.

I shrugged back. "Maybe a few weeks ago. Spent a couple days unconscious and broke one of my weapons, but hey, I survived." I said with a laugh.

Chris rubbed his chin as he digested what I had told him. "Well then, I'll tell Kayla she's got nothing to worry about." He replied. "Oh and by the way, I wouldn't mind having you as a brother-in-law." He said with a wink as he left.

I could only stand there, stunned at the possible implication. _So… does he… does he think I should marry Velvet?_ I thought as the beautiful girl in question walked into my room brushing her hair dressed in blue jeans, a light grey long-sleeved shirt and a hazy green hoodie overtop.

"Shower's all yours." She declared. "I left your hoodie in the bathroom."

I shrugged. "Meh, keep it. I've had that one for a while now and I'm starting to grow out of it." I said with a smile, remembering how her face lit up when she put it on. Velvet put down her hair brush and gave me a hug and peck on the cheek.

"Best. Gift. Ever." She said from over my shoulder. My smile faded slightly as I was suddenly remembered I had no idea what I supposed to get her for Dustmas.

I released her from the embrace and forced a smile. "Only the best for the best."

She blushed and punched my shoulder playfully. "Go have a shower, I'll be waiting in the living room." I grabbed a pair of black jeans, a t-shirt the same shade of blue as my hair, another black hoodie and headed into the bathroom.

I turned on the shower and as the hot water ran down my body, contemplated possible gift ideas for the rest of Velvet's family. _Maybe a new knife for Chris or something, a book on psychology for Kayla and as for her parents…_ my mind drew a complete blank.

After shutting off the water, drying down and donning my clean clothes, I met Velvet in the living room, who was sitting on the couch, already wearing her winter jacket overtop of her hoodie. Upon hearing my footsteps, she looked up and grinned.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah, just gotta grab my coat." I said, putting on my shoes and jacket, Velvet putting on a pair of winter boots.

"So, do you have your driver's license with you?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, in my wallet." I patted my front right jeans pocket where I always kept it. "But it's probably not valid in Vacuo."

"So you don't mind if I drive?" She asked.

I shrugged and gave her a confused look. "No, why would I?"

Velvet shook her head. "No reason." She then produced a set of keys from her jacket and opened the door, gesturing for me to follow. I exited the house and closed the door behind me as Velvet was already driving a white sedan out of the garage. She honked the horn twice and I sprinted into the passenger seat of the vehicle.

"In a rush?" I asked with a laugh.

Velvet shrugged and smirked. "Nah, just wanted to see how fast you could move." The car then moved forward and we were en-route to the capital city of Vacuo.

"So how are you feeling?" Velvet asked.

I sighed. "I think Chris and your mom are okay with me, Kayla and your dad on the other hand…" I trailed off.

"Joe." I looked at her. "I meant physically. How are you doing? Are you able to move around alright?"

I felt my cheeks heat up slightly out of embarrassment. "Oh. Well, my stomach still hurts if I put pressure on it and my aura hasn't regenerated to a hundred percent yet, but otherwise yeah. I'm fine."

Velvet laughed as we drove. "You're worrying too much. Kay and dad will warm up to you eventually. Just give them time."

I decided to follow her advice and switched topics. "So what do you think would be a good gift for your family?"

"Well, if you're thinking about what to get for each of them, trust your judgement."

"Yeah… but that's just it. I trust my judgement, but in order to judge something, I have to have an idea of what it is I'm judging in the first place!" I said frustrated.

Velvet gave me a quizzical look before returning her gaze to the road. "What?"

"I don't know what to get your parents." I stated.

Velvet sighed. "Well, my mom's a baking fanatic. Just get her a cookbook. As for my dad, a new set of tools for the car or a pair of socks will do. He's not very complicated."

"Okay. What do you think about a new combat knife for Chris and a book on psychology for Kayla?"

Velvet nodded as we turned onto the highway that led straight to the city. "Both sound good. Just… make sure the book isn't titled 'Psychology for Dummies.'" Velvet said with a chuckle.

I laughed back and we pulled into the parking lot of the mall that featured everything from an arcade to an upscale jewelry store. We promptly exited the car and entered the massive building.

"So… do you want to split up and do our shopping separately or what?" I asked.

"Separately." Velvet said immediately. "Unless you **want** me dragging you from store to store all day."

I chuckled. "Okay, point taken."

"I'll meet you in the food court at noon!" She called as she made her way to the second floor of the mall. I nodded back and wandered towards a nearby bookstore.

After looking around for a decent cookbook, I decided to just go the counter and ask for help. Thankfully, the woman attending the store pointed out a decent-looking tome filled with a recipe for every baked good imaginable. It was kind of pricey at forty lien, but if it meant staying on Velvet's mom's good side, then no price was too high. I then asked the woman if there was a section of books dedicated to psychology and she showed me the 'education' section of novels. I picked one that I thought would be a good choice and paid for it as well.

After buying the books and placing them in a plastic bag, I decided to grab Chris' combat knife next. On my way to the military-surplus store however, I passed the high-end jewellery store called 'Shine Brightly' advertised on a billboard outside the mall and stopped in front of the window. Inside was every type of gem imaginable: diamond, jade, ruby, sapphire, quartz, the list went on. Of course, they were expensive, but an idea crossed my mind. I walked up to the counter where a balding, grey haired old man wearing a green shirt, red apron and grey pants stood.

"Hi. I was just wondering; do you make custom jewellery?" The man nodded back at me and I pulled out my scroll. "Do you think that you'd be able to replicate these symbols on stones?" I asked, showing him a zoomed-in view of mine and Velvet's emblems.

"It will take a while, but yes." He said.

 _Now to the tough question._ "How much?"

"Depends on how you want it. On a necklace, wristband, embedded with silver, gold or copper and the type of gemstones involved."

"I was actually thinking of more along the lines of a necklace, one with each symbol and a piece of smoky quartz for the crossed blades symbol and an emerald for the stitched heart. How much would silver cost?" I asked.

"Eight hundred lien for both." The old man replied.

 _Fuck._ I thought. _That won't leave anything for my other gifts._

"And copper?"

"Five hundred."

I sighed. _She's worth it._ I reached into my wallet and slid five notes of one hundred lien over the counter. "Okay then, copper it is.

"If you don't mind my asking, who's this for? Mother, sister?"

"Girlfriend."

"Huh." The man said. "Okay then, I just need your name." He said, sliding a piece of paper that contained every detail of the piece of jewellery on it. I wrote down my name on the line that said 'Client's name' and slid it back to him. "Taren huh? Alright, give me three hours and your two silver necklaces will be ready."

"Wh-what? No, we agreed on copper." I objected.

He nodded as he put the money in the register. "I know, but it's a little hard to see colors in black and white."

"What?" I said, utterly confused. The old man's eyes then flicked upwards at a security camera installed in the corner of the shop.

"Anything for love, right?" He said with a smile.

"Why?" I asked.

"You saved my son and grandson's lives, Joseph. The people of Hishan owe you a massive debt."

"But-" I started.

"A person's life is worth more than any amount of money in the world." He interrupted me. "You're a hero, whether you recognize it or not."

I smiled and nodded to the man. "Thank you!" I called as I left to get the knife.

My trip to the military-surplus store took less than five minutes. I asked the man at the counter what knife he recommended for someone who was training in the military and he gave me a large, serrated knife with a sheath that could only be described as lethal. I paid for the gift and placed it in the same plastic bag as the books. My scroll buzzed and I realized that I had completely lost track of time. It was 12:15 and had received a message from Velvet asking where I was. I couldn't have moved faster as I sprinted towards the food court with the bag containing the gifts and looked among the mob of people.

After scanning the tables, I found a pair of rabbit ears sticking out among the crowd and headed in that direction.

Sure enough, Velvet was sitting at a table by herself with a few shopping bags beside her, munching on some fries as she gazed at her scroll.

"So, keeping track of time is **not** one of my strong suits." I said with a chuckle, taking the empty seat next to her.

She smiled back. "It's okay, you've made me wait longer."

I got confused. "When and how long?"

"How about when you died?" She said humorously, easing my tension.

I sighed. "You're never going to let go of that, are you?" I asked with a smirk.

Velvet shook her head and smiled. "Nope. And I'm going to use it to my advantage whenever I can." She said, leaning in for a kiss, which I was all too happy to oblige. We ignored the odd looks from a few bystanders and just focused on each other, enjoying the moment of pure bliss as I cupped her cheek and she leaned further in, deepening the connection.

Unfortunately, our lungs cried out from the lack of oxygen and we had to break away, breathing faster than normal. "You know, I feel like I don't say it enough, but… I love you, Velvet." I said with a grin.

She grinned back. "I love you too, Joe."

We then got our separate lunches from the nearby stores and ate, conversation being kept to a relative low. "So did you get all your shopping done?" I asked.

She nodded back after taking a bite of her burger. "Yeah, how 'bout you?"

I shook my head. "Still gotta get your dad something."

"Okay well, since I got him a new pair of socks, you should get him a new tool set."

I shrugged and sighed. "Yeah, that sounds good. I just hope that he'll stop giving me that stare."

Velvet shot me a confused look. "What 'stare'?"

"You know, the stare! The one where it looks like he'll punch me if I take a step towards you."

Velvet let out a frustrated sigh and put down her lunch. "Joe, for the last time: my dad does **not** hate you. He's just being a dad; cautious, protective and inquisitive."

"My dad's not like that." I replied.

"Probably because you're his **son** , not his daughter. Think about it, if **you** had a daughter, you'd be concerned about the kind of guy she was going out with, right?"

I was about to object but thought against it. Rational thought sank in and I began to understand why Fallow behaved the way he did. "Okay, yeah. I guess I can see where he's coming from." I admitted.

We finished our meals and Velvet guided me down to a hardware store where she designated a set of tools her dad has had his eyes on for a while now. We still had two and a half hours to burn until my gift for Velvet was ready, but I had trouble concealing my intentions.

"So, do you want to just hang around and maybe go to the arcade?" I asked with a bag in each hand as Velvet and myself exited the hardware store.

Velvet stifled a yawn. "I'm actually kind of tired. How about we just head home?"

"Aw come on. It'll be fun!" I insisted.

She looked at me, exasperated and I put on the best puppy-dog eyes I could, remembering how Ruby had done to Yang on many occasions. Thankfully, she eventually gave in and shook her head with a smile.

"Fine, but if I fall asleep standing up, I'm blaming you."

"No argument there." I replied as I tried to find my way around the large building, buying as much time as I could for the jeweler.

It probably cost me close to fifty lien, but I managed to keep myself and Velvet occupied until three. During the time at the arcade, I found out Velvet was a fantastic dancer. There were so many flashing arrows on the DDR machine, I thought for sure I was going to have a seizure if I gazed at the screen much longer, but my girlfriend did not miss a single beat. I tried my luck at the same machine, but my skills were far from perfect. My footsteps were heavy, slow and clumsy.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" I asked as we exited the arcade, myself now carrying a massive stuffed bear that Velvet had picked out for herself with the tickets she had won in addition to my gifts.

Velvet just shrugged. "Picked it up from Coco."

"She doesn't seem like the girl who likes to dance a whole lot." I stated.

"Well, believe it or not, she taught me how to dance during our first year at Beacon. Said it was a team building exercise but..." She trailed off.

"Let me guess. She never taught Fox or Yatsuhashi?" I asked with a smirk.

Velvet sighed and nodded. "I wanted to be mad, but I couldn't because she was only trying to help."

I chuckled before I realized that we had just passed the jewellery store. After rounding a corner where she wouldn't be able to see me, I feigned having to use the restroom and ran out of her field of view, towards the store.

"Hi, are the necklaces ready yet?" I asked the old man.

He nodded and produced the two chain silver necklaces, my symbol engraved on a piece of brown smoky quartz, while Velvet's symbol was etched into an emerald so that the color of our symbols were combined with the colors we associated the other person with.

"Two boxes or one?"

"One." _I just hope that this isn't going to creep her out._ I thought worriedly.

The shopkeeper gave me the box containing the chains and I placed it in the same pocket as my wallet, trying to conceal the extra gift as best I could.

"Enjoy your Dustmas, Mr. Taren." The old man said with a smile.

"And you as well." I replied, grinning.

I exited the store, regrouped with Velvet and we drove back to her parent's house, where I promptly took my purchases to my room before I realized two important things: I needed to wrap the gifts and I had no idea how. For previous Dustmases, I would always ask for another person's help in wrapping gifts.

And since this was the first time spending a Dustmas a family other my own, I wanted the gifts to not look like an amateur had wrapped them. So, I turned to the only one I trusted to not tease me about this matter.

"Velvet?" I asked, knocking the door adjacent to mine.

"DON'T COME IN!" She shouted quickly.

"Okay… I just need your help with something."

"I'm sure Chris will help you." She replied through the closed door.

 _Well, he certainly doesn't hate me._ I thought as I turned around and knocked on the door to his room.

"Yeah?" I took it as an invitation to enter and saw the other guy cleaning the slide of a handgun, still in his pajamas. "Hey Joe, what's up?"

"Just wondering if you could help me with some gift wrapping."

"I don't think you could've come to a worse person with that request." He replied with a chuckle. "I always pay to have my presents wrapped."

"Well, Velvet apparently can't help me, and I don't really want to ask your parents or Kay, so what do I do?"

Chris sighed and re-assembled the weapon. "I'm afraid your only option is to ask Kay. She's a genius when it comes to that."

"But she doesn't like me!" I objected.

"Have you got a better idea?" The burly rabbit faunus asked me. I merely shook my head in response. "That's what I thought. She's outside right now, in the backyard."

I headed out the rear door of the house, which led to a small balcony with a set of steps that led downward into a small field with the forest forming a semi-circle, completely covered with about half a foot of snow aside from a person-shaped hole in the middle of the ground. Once I got closer, I realized that it was Kayla, just lying face up in the snow wearing a thick winter jacket, jeans and a hoodie with a long-sleeved shirt with her hands folded behind her head.

"Um… Kay?" I asked.

"Hey, what's up?" She replied, her eyes not leaving the sky.

"I-I was wondering if you'd help me with some gift wrapping? Chris said that…"

"Sure." Kayla cut me off.

"Ooookay, just meet me in my room when you're done doing… whatever this is." I said. Wordlessly, Velvet's sister got up from her position on the snow-covered land and made her way to the house. I followed close behind and made sure to get to my room before she did and hid the book I had purchased for her underneath a pillow.

She walked into the room carrying several rolls of wrapping paper, scotch tape and I closed the door behind her as to avoid any other members of the Scarlatina clan noticing what I had purchased for them.

Instead of wrapping up the gifts for me however, Kayla insisted that she would coach me. After having to throw away several square feet of the paper, I successfully encased Chris' knife and wrote on an accompanying tag: To Chris From Joe. Kayla silently observed as I moved onto the recipe book for her mother.

"So… do you have something against me or what?" I asked, tearing off a piece of tape.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her cock an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

"Well it's just seems that you've been actively avoiding me. That, and Chris told me you think I'll break Velvet's heart like her previous boyfriends."

Kayla scoffed. "Joe, you're making Velvet happy and from what I can see, you don't even remotely behave like those other idiots."

I looked up from my work. "So you're alright with me dating your sister?" I asked for clarification.

She nodded back. "Chris likes to assume, so that's why he told you I don't like you. But personally, I think you two are great together!" She said with a grin. "You're happy, she's happy, you're both incredibly nervous around others, and that only makes you two cuter!" She gushed.

I let a shy smile grace my face and felt my cheeks heat up. "Thanks. That definitely makes me feel better, knowing that almost everyone in your family approves of me and Velvet."

"Almost?" She parroted me.

"Yeah. Your dad doesn't seem to like me too much." I stated. "Haven't you noticed it? The way he just glares at me?"

Kayla shook her head. "Not really. I'll go and talk to him." She said, getting up and walking out the door.

My eyebrows shot up. "Wait! What about the presents?!" I asked.

She waved me off. "You'll be fine, just keep doing what you're doing." With that, she left me to wrap the rest of the presents by myself, aside from the necklaces. I wanted to give those to Velvet myself.

It took two whole hours, but I finally managed to get the remaining three gifts wrapped up quite nicely. At least, they looked nice in **my** opinion. There was a little more paper than was required and an absurd amount of tape, but in my defence, that was because I didn't want them coming unwrapped. The necklaces for the moment I kept hidden in my duffle bag, where I could only hope Velvet wouldn't accidentally see them.

A few minutes after finishing, Sepia knocked on my door, asking if I was hungry.

"Yeah, sure. I could eat." I replied.

"Good, but you'd better hurry. Chris and Fallow tend to have quite an appetite on Sundays."

I closed my door behind me as I followed Velvet's mom down the hallway to the dining room where six empty seats with plates and cutlery awaited. "Why's that?"

"Every Sunday's pasta night at the Scarlatina house. Unless you want me to make you something else?" She offered.

I chuckled to myself. _Almost the female equivalent of Jaune_. I thought. "No thanks, pasta sounds good." I said, grabbing a plate and piling on spaghetti with meat sauce onto the dish as Chris and Fallow thudded down the stairs and quickly mirrored my actions. They both zipped by me and sat down at the table while I gave Sepia an astonished look and she laughed back.

"Yeah, I wasn't joking." She said with a warm smile. I laughed with her, sat next to Chris and ate. A few moments later, Velvet and Kayla appeared from down the hall with two gifts underneath their arms, four in total. After placing them underneath the tree, I leaned back in my seat in an attempt to get a look at which present was addressed to who. I scanned the gifts, but found none with my name on it.

 _Meh, she probably still in the process of wrapping it up._ I thought as Velvet sat next to me and Kay next to her mom.

"So… did you two have a good trip into town?" Fallow asked Velvet and me.

"Yeah, it was nice. We went shopping, hit the arcade and had lunch together." Velvet listed off the activities of the day.

"Good, good." The patriarch of the Scarlatina family nodded and returned to his meal. I instinctively grimaced at the possibility that he was making sure I didn't take Velvet somewhere he didn't like. Velvet must've noticed my unease and gave my hand a comforting squeeze. I gave her a weak smile and went back to eating as well before heading to bed early, the exhaustion of yesterday's late night flight still present.

I rested peacefully, dreams of Velvet and myself relaxing together on a beach filling my mind until a hand clamped itself over my mouth. I woke up and my fingers flicked downwards, thinking that I was still wearing my gauntlets. I then swung my hand as though a blade was attached to it and my attacker backed up and continued to hold their hand over my mouth. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realized it was Fallow dressed in a winter jacket, jeans and a black t-shirt with an exhausted expression on his face.

"How old are you?" He whispered before removing his hand.

"Seventeen." I replied confused.

He looked at my face for a moment. "You can pass for eighteen. Come on, get dressed." I complied, but was still puzzled beyond all recognition. "Grab your jacket." He whispered as we tip-toed our way to the front door. "Put your shoes on." I did so and he opened the door, gestured for me to walk outside, followed behind me, and locked the door.

"Um… Mr. Scarlatina?"

"Fallow." He replied.

"Right, Fallow, um… where are we going?" He said nothing, but gestured to a waiting taxi at the end of the driveway. We both got in and he instructed the driver to go to someplace called 'The Bear's Den.'

The half-hour ride was spent in total silence and we finally arrived in front of what was easily recognizable as a bar, stools in front of a long wooden counter, booths along the walls and a pool table in the middle of the building.

Fallow paid the cab driver and gestured for me to follow him inside. He walked up to the bar, sat in an empty stool and ordered a beer for himself and me.

It wasn't my drink of choice, but I nursed the liquid slowly and waited for him to speak.

"You know, when Velvet told me she had a boyfriend, I thought for sure that you were going to be like the others. I never got the chance to meet them, and it's actually pretty fortunate for them otherwise I probably would've carved their eyes out with a rusty spoon." He said calmly. My eyebrows shot up and I returned to my drink. "But, from what I've been told and what I've seen, you make her happy so I guess I can tolerate you for now." He said, keeping his eyes glued to the TV set above the bar.

"Why couldn't you just tell me that back at the house? I asked.

He shrugged. "I needed a drink and I wanted to see if you were a lightweight or not."

I felt a little bit insulted, but reluctantly chugged the beer, the liquid burning my throat. "Then you ordered the wrong drink." I replied with a cough. I tapped on the wooden bar with my knuckles and looked at the bartender. "Mistrilian spiced rum." He nodded back and promptly filled a glass with the delicious alcohol.

Fallow gave me an estranged look and scoffed. "Spiced rum? What kind of bitch drink is that?"

"Hey, how about you finish that first beer then you can start talking shit." I replied. Fallow growled back, chugged his beer, ordered another one and glared at me.

"On three, we drink." He said. "One."

"Two." I interjected.

"Three!" He shouted and we both began drinking, the rum much more soothing to my stomach and throat than the crude beer. We finished our drinks at the same time and slammed the glasses down on the bar.

"Again?" I offered.

"Thinking about quitting already?" He quipped back. I tapped on the bar and the bartender came back to refill our glasses. We drank again and I shook my head to keep alert.

"One-one more?" I asked, the alcohol starting to affect my ability to form words.

"Why the hell not?" Fallow stated, tapping on the bar again.

The night went on and on, each of us going through I don't know how many drinks while my vision got fuzzier and fuzzier.


	23. The Hangover

I let loose a moan and rolled over in bed as I heard thunderous knocking on my door. "Yeah?" I called back.

I didn't see who it was, but they had really, really heavy footsteps, making my headache even worse. They sat on the end of the bed and rubbed my arm. "I really wish dad didn't do that!" Velvet shouted.

"C-can you please not yell?" I begged.

"Joe, I'm barely whispering." She said in a quieter tone.

"Still too loud." I grumbled.

"Come on, have some breakfast. Mom's got something for hangovers." At the mention of a remedy for my current situation, I got up as quickly as I could, only to end up falling face down on the floor. Velvet giggled and helped me back up to my feet. She dragged my drunken ass over to the table where she placed me in a seat across from Fallow who groaned and held his head with both hands.

Sepia then placed a cup of clear liquid with leaves or something in front of both of us. "Don't talk, just drink. And it's hot, so don't burn yourselves either." She said in a comforting tone. I clasped the cup with both hands and sipped at the hot liquid, my nausea and headache slowly dissipating with each drink. By the time I had finished it, I felt like I was completely sober.

"You have to send me the recipe for whatever that was, Sepia. I promise you that I don't get drunk very often, but when I do, it's just awful." I said to the matriarch, who nodded back with a smile.

"It's a little something I picked up from my family. My brother would go out drinking with his buddies on a regular basis and my mom just got tired of helping him out, so she charged me with making the drink to help him. All it is a few herbs combined with boiling water."

I was about to thank her when Kay and Chris came out of their rooms dressed in their pajamas with massive grins as they handed their scrolls to me and Fallow.

"What?" I started.

"Just hit play." Chris said, still grinning. I gave him a suspicious look, but complied. I hit the play button and the scroll flashed to a video of me with my arm around Fallow's shoulders as we entered the Scarlatina household, both of us obviously hammered beyond all recognition. "So-so what yur sayin' is tha if I gave youuu a carrot, you wouldn' eat it?" I drunkenly asked him.

Fallow shook his head. "Nawwww, caruts are fuckin' amazing, are you kiddin me?" He slurred back.

I shook my head at drunk Joe's antics as the camera panned over to Kayla, who was also filming with her own scroll while Velvet tried to get me into my room and out of my jacket.

Drunk Joe slumped against the wall and looked directly at Velvet. "You know, you rumind me uv a gurl, I think her name's silk or fabric or somethin' like that. She's real nice! I think you should meet hur!" I said, pointing a finger at her.

Velvet chuckled and put both hands on my shoulders. "Joe, it **is** me. Okay? It's Velvet. I'm right here in front of you."

Drunk Joe squinted and tilted his head. "Oh, I guess it is. Hi Velv! How are youuuu?"

Velvet smirked and held back another laugh. "I'm fine, but you're obviously not, now come on, let's get you out of this coat and into bed." She tried to take my coat off and I pushed her away. At this, I got worried that I had accidentally hit Velvet, but what happened next soothed my suspicions.

"I already got a gurlfrien'! She's the bes' in the world!" Drunk Joe yelled as he ripped off his jacket and stumbled to the guest room. I put down the scroll and breathed a sigh of relief. _Thank Oum almighty that even drunk Joe knows Velvet's the best._ I thought.

"So… yeah. You and dad were pretty drunk last night when the cab dropped you off." Chris said as he put the device in his pocket.

"Really? 'Cause it looked like I was completely sober in the video." I replied sarcastically. "Sepia, I am so sorry if I caused you any trouble." I said apologetically, turning my gaze to Velvet's mom.

To my surprise, she shook her head and smiled. "It's no problem. That might've actually been the funniest thing I've ever seen." I nodded back and looked at Velvet, who was now sitting beside me, gaze to her feet. "How about you? Are you okay with the way I behaved last night?" I asked, both fearful and concerned.

She slowly looked up at me. "Honestly, I'm disappointed that my dad got you drunk, but as for you, I'm happy that not even when you're drunk would you cheat on me." She said with a beautiful smile.

I put an arm around her shoulders and pressed my forehead to hers. "Sober, drunk, dead, alive. Under no conditions or circumstances would I **ever** cheat on you. You're amazing, there's no two ways about it."

"Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss…" I heard Kayla whisper-chanting. I gave Velvet a quick peck on the lips, which elicited an "aww." From Velvet's sister and kept her smiling.

"Alright guys, who wants breakfast?" Sepia asked, popping a tray of tater tots in the oven.

After breakfast, which entailed an embarrassing detailed description of what happened when Fallow and myself had arrived home drunk last night, I took a walk with Chris to the back yard where he showed me all the important sites of his childhood with his sisters, including a tree that he had fallen out of when he was seven, resulting in a broken wrist.

"So you just climbed up there, without either Kay or Velvet offering you any money or anything? You just did it on a dare saying that you couldn't?" I said doubtfully.

Chris nodded, proud of himself. "Yup. But come on, I'm sure you did stupid shit when you were a kid. What's the dumbest thing you think you've ever done?"

I thought for a moment as we trudged through the snow. "Well, there was the time when my uncles rolled me down a hill in a garbage barrel." I replied.

"Wait, you mean that they stuffed you in a barrel and pushed you down a hill?" I nodded. "Pretty stupid, I'll give you that. Any injuries?"

"Besides some nausea and a few bumps on my head, no. Nothing really significant."

"Meh, that kind of takes the stupid out of it then. Nothing's ever really dumb unless you get hur…" Chris was interrupted when a snowball hit the back of his head at sixty miles an hour, sending him face first into the snow. I turned around to see Velvet making more snowballs while Kay was doubled over, clutching her stomach while she laughed.

I pulled Chris out of the snow and pointed to his sisters. "They have declared war! We must repent!" My voice taking on a militaristic tone.

The other rabbit faunus nodded and began packing snow tightly together into small orbs. While he covered me, I made an impromptu fort to provide shielding against the attacks, and the girls did the same.

"We will give you one chance to surrender!" I yelled, leaning up against the tightly packed piece of cover with Chris beside me.

"Death before surrender!" Came Kay's response.

I looked at Chris, who bore a mischievous grin. "No mercy." He said. I grinned back as he handed me several snowballs. I peaked over the barricade and whipped a snowball at the girl's own blockade. Just as I threw the projectile however, both Velvet and Kay immediately stood and threw one snowball each at me. One missed, but the other hit me square in the face. Chris then retaliated with two snowballs of his own and kneeled next to me.

I groaned in mock pain and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. "I'm hit! Tell me doc, am I going to live?"

Chris grabbed the collar of my jacket and smirked. "You'll live soldier, it's just a flesh wound! Now get back in the fight!" I chuckled and continued to make additional snowballs before an evil idea sprang to mind.

"Hey, on my signal, keep them suppressed. Don't let them get a shot on me." I said. Velvet's brother nodded and began making more ammo. Once he thought he had enough, I gave the order to keep our enemy pinned down, activated my semblance and began rolling a massive amount of snow into a boulder. Once it got to be about three feet in radius, I heaved it over my head and with both hands, launched the massive snow-bomb at the girls' fortress, crushing it and burying them in the white powder.

Chris looked back at me with a wide smile as I shrank down to normal height. "An artillery strike. Smart." We looked over to see Velvet and Kay climbing out of the snow, defeated. Chris and myself began laughing, attracting the attention of the Scarlatina parents.

Fallow walked over to our barricade and clapped both of us on the back in congratulations with a smile. "Well done, boys! One less threat to be dealt with."

Sepia looked back and glared at her husband as she helped her daughters out of the snow. "Yeah, but they won because of Joe's semblance. In any other circumstances, the girls would've won." She claimed.

Fallow chuckled back and smirked. "Do I hear a rematch approaching?"

Wordlessly, the girls began reconstructing their fort and Fallow laughed again before returning his gaze to us. "Let's get to work, boys." Chris and me nodded back, myself manufacturing more ammunition while father and son built another barricade, stronger and larger with small holes so that we could observe our enemies from safety.

Once both sides of the now-divided Scarlatina house had built their respective defenses, Sepia called for basic rules to be set.

"No one uses their semblance and losers will not hold grudges!" She shouted over her barricade.

Chris raised an eyebrow and looked at me, a snowball in either hand. "Guess that means no more artillery strikes." I grabbed a ball of the hard-packed material and shook my head slowly.

Fallow lightly chuckled and replied to his wife with a simple 'agreed'.

After hearing Sepia yell 'Open fire', several snowballs thudded against the other side of our delicate reinforcement.

"How the hell are they throwing them so fast?" I asked in disbelief.

"Sepia used to play softball." Fallow answered as another barrage thudded against the snow. "And it sounds like she hasn't lost her touch."

"So, how are we supposed to aim at them if mom's completely bombarding us the entire time?" Chris asked.

I peeked through one of the pre-made holes and saw all three women of the Scarlatina family whipping snowballs at our barricade. "Well, it looks like all three of them are on offense and no one's conserving ammo so here's my plan: one of us draws their fire, the other slowly flanks around and the last one stays here, occasionally returning fire to keep them interested."

"I think one of you should run." Fallow declared.

Chris furrowed his brow. "Why not you?"

"Well, you're younger and can probably move faster than my old bones can."

"Oh, the **one** time he admits he's old." Chris said to me with a smirk. "And he uses it to get out of doing work, what a surprise."

I ignored the remark as I spoke. "I'll flank around, I think Chris should draw their fire and Fallow, you stay here. Sound good to everyone?"

"Actually Joe…" Chris began.

"Good, let's get moving." I said, pushing Velvet's brother out of cover towards the house where he just began to run while Fallow peeked up from cover and threw a snowball every few seconds. Once I was satisfied no one was watching, I sprinted over to a snow-covered bush where I could observe the firefight between the two sides. Chris once again successfully drew their fire and I made another run for cover, another bush that concealed my presence. After several minutes of Chris being pelted with snowballs and Fallow keeping the women interested in his position, I quietly snuck up behind my girlfriend and poured a handful of snow down her back before pelting her sister and mother with a snowball to the back of the head.

Velvet ran around screeching at the unexpected cold, Kay just glared at me while Sepia sighed in defeat and gave me a small smile. As the matriarch of the family raised her arms in surrender, Velvet tackled me into the snow and held my head to the cold ground as long as she thought I deserved before letting me up. I turned over in the snow, my face to the sky as Velvet stood over me with her hands on her hips.

"Admit it, you deserved that." She ordered.

I shrugged back. "Not quite to that extent, but it was close." She laughed and shivered, her mom taking notice.

"Alright, everyone get inside." She ordered. "I thought I was raising three kids, not three frozen Popsicles."

Velvet then offered a hand to help me out of the snow and I gladly took it, holding her close and sharing my body heat with hers.

After everyone had taken a hot shower and changed into their pajamas, Chris and Kay took it upon themselves to make cups of hot chocolate for each of us and draped a blanket around Velvet and me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Kay's sole objective during my stay was to get me to stay with Velvet the whole time as she took several pictures of us together.

"It's a good thing you're not camera shy." Chris stated. "Otherwise you'd never stay around Velvet or Kay."

I chuckled. "Yeah, but Velvet doesn't take many pictures." I interjected.

Chris looked confused at the statement. "Dude, her weapon is a camera." He then looked between Velvet and me several times before his gaze settled on his sister. "Wait, have you not taken a photo of his weapons yet?"

I looked over at Velvet, who was glaring at her brother. "Your weapon's a camera?" I echoed her brother. I just thought that she had always fought barehanded. It seemed to work for her pretty well during the breach in Vale.

"Yeah, I uh… I designed it myself." She replied quietly. "I take a photo of someone's weapons and then I can create a holographic image of it for my own use later."

"So, why didn't you take one of my gauntlets? I wear them all the time, so it's not like it'd be very hard to obtain." I stated.

"Yeah, I know. I guess I was just too focused on our relationship to bother getting a photo." She declared.

My eyebrows shot up, somewhat shocked that I was so high on Velvet's priority list. "Oh. Okay then, I-I guess that that's something we'll deal with when we get back to Beacon." I said with a smile.

She nodded back and laid her head on my shoulder as she shuffled closer. "But in the meantime, I suggest we just enjoy our time together."

I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon telling Velvet's family what my childhood was like, how my uncles were basically brothers, how they raised me when my parents were away and what my plans were after graduating Beacon.

"So, yeah. After I'm finished with school, I want to get an apartment of my own in Vale, keep doing missions for the kingdom, and just go from there." I summarized.

Kay nodded. "Nice. Have you thought about starting a family?"

"Well, that's more of a question for future Joe. Present Joe's more focused on…" I looked at Velvet whose head was still resting on my shoulder. "More important things." I finished with a smile. Upon hearing this, she took her head off my arm and pecked me on the cheek, causing her sister to 'aww' again.

"Alright guys, dinner is served!" Sepia declared from the kitchen. The family and myself rushed over to the dinner table, the surface covered with an assortment of mouth-watering foods ranging from roasted carrots and broccoli to a platter full of pork ribs smothered in barbeque sauce.

"You guys don't have turkey on Dustmas eve?" I asked the family.

Chris shook his head as he took his seat next to me. "Nah, it's been a tradition that the main course on Dustmas eve is a finger food and then Dustmas day we always have turkey for dinner." He explained, grabbing a large rack of ribs.

"Does your family have any traditions during the holidays?" Sepia asked, handing the roasted vegetables to her husband.

I shook my head. "Not really. My family and me really aren't that imaginative. On New Year's we just watch the fireworks and watch movies together."

"Still, it's better than doing nothing." Kay interjected.

I nodded in agreement and piled some of the meat onto my plate as well as the roasted vegetables. After a hearty meal and light-hearted conversation, Velvet, myself, Chris and Kay played a few games on the game console hooked up to the TV in the living room for a few hours before calling it a night and going to bed.

As I lay in the guest room of the Scarlatina house, my mind was still comprehending what was happening in my life and how far I had come. On my first day of Beacon, I'd lost my best friend from Signal as well as two dear friends I had met the day before. After that, was assigned to a team whose leader I shouted at simply because I was mad later, I met Velvet; a beautiful rabbit faunus too shy and reserved to stand up for herself whom I'd fallen in love with faster than a boulder falls from a mountain top.

And now, I was sleeping at her house in Vacuo, meeting her family, buying them Dustmas gifts and getting along with them.

I smiled to myself and clasped my hands together behind my head, slowly letting sleep envelope me in a blanket of warm darkness. Before I could slip into the realm of dreams however, I heard two light knocks on my door. Confused as to who would be asking for me at eleven at night, I got up and opened the door to see Velvet wearing my hoodie over her regular pyjamas.

"Hi." She greeted me quietly.

"Hey." I replied. "Nightmare?"

She shook her head. "No, just couldn't sleep."

I nodded and gestured for her to come in, closing the door behind her as she crawled into the guest bed. I moved in next to her and let her play the part of the big spoon as she put an arm around my mid-section and rested her head on my shoulder.

A comfortable silence formed before she spoke again. "Sorry if I woke you."

I chuckled. "I said it once, I'll say it again, Velvet. You don't ever have to be sorry about waking me up during the night. Being able to cuddle with you is a **massive** highlight of my life." As soon as the words left my mouth, I could practically feel the heat coming from Velvet's cheeks.

"I'm starting to think that you actually like making me blush."

"It's a perk."

She giggled and punched me on the shoulder. "Smartass. Merry Dustmas."

"Merry Dustmas, beautiful." I replied with a grin.


	24. Gifts and Goodbyes

A bright flash of white flooded my vision and as my eyes adjusted, I saw Velvet's siblings grinning and taking pictures of myself and Velvet laying in bed together, her arms still wrapped around my stomach.

The flashes stopped and Kay and Chris fled the room, scrolls in hand. I made to get up and chase them down when I felt Velvet clutch the back of my shirt.

"And just where do you think you're going?" She asked in a calm voice.

I turned around to see her still holding onto my shirt and a neutral expression on her face as she looked into my eyes. I gestured to the door. "Chris and Kay got a whole bunch of photos of us, probably going to do the same thing Yang was going to do!" I declared, making another move to get up.

Apparently, my girlfriend had other plans as she dragged me back onto the bed and wrapped her whole body around mine, arms around my neck and legs on either side of my stomach in a piggyback fashion.

"Let 'em." She said with a small yawn.

"But…" I started to object, but she shut me up with a kiss on the cheek and a thought came to mind.

 _You know what? She's right. The most damage they can do is show the pictures of us together to their friends in Vacuo and neither of us comes here very often so it's really not that big of a deal. Besides, spending a few more minutes cuddling is probably a lot better than trying to retrieve the photos._

"But that can probably wait." I admitted, turning over and sharing my body heat with Velvet's.

"Glad you saw reason." She said with a smile. After a few more minutes of laying in bed, my stomach grumbled from lack of sustenance and with her on my back, Velvet suggested that we get some breakfast.

Seeing us approach the table, Kay immediately pulled out her scroll and snapped a few more photos of us. "That's more for the slideshow." She said with a smirk.

Chris did the same and I flipped him off, but he still took a few pictures of Velvet on my back, smiles on both our faces. "Still good ones." He stated, returning to his morning meal.

I let Velvet take control of her own legs as I let her down before taking one of the waiting plates and piling on bacon, two fried eggs, a hash brown and a sausage. "Yeah, and a Merry Dustmas to you guys as well." I replied sarcastically.

Velvet laughed and followed my lead before taking a seat and looking at the two other empty chairs. "Where're mom and dad?"

"Still sleeping." Chris replied. "Although I imagine that won't be the case for long once they get a whiff of the coffee." He said, taking a drink from his own mug.

Sure enough, about five minutes later, Sepia and Fallow descended the stairs and immediately poured themselves a cup of the hot liquid.

Fallow let loose a satisfied "Ahh" after taking a sip and began to grab his own breakfast plate. "Everyone sleep well?" He asked.

Kay shot a sly smirk at Velvet and me. "Yeah. Pretty good. Joe and Velv spent the night together." She added quickly as she took a bite of toast.

Fallow's eyebrows shot up and nearly choked on his coffee, pounding on his chest after he swallowed. My face went beet red whereas Velvet appeared completely calm.

A really awkward silence formed and the patriarch broke it by asking probably the most embarrassing question he could've. "So… you used protection?"

"Fallow!" His wife shouted at him.

It was at that point that I wished I had a self-destruct button. Just press it and _BOOM_! No more Joe.

"We're not there yet, dad, just cuddling, nothing more." Velvet replied.

Both Velvet's dad and myself heaved a sigh of relief at her response. "Good. 'Cause I'm actually starting to like this guy and it would've been a shame if I had to beat the crap outta him on Dustmas Day." He said with the ghost of a smile on his lips.

I unconsciously laughed back at his response and found myself grinning as I dug into the meal. _The feeling's mutual, my friend._

Everyone had finished breakfast and was now seated in the living room, Sepia and Fallow on the couch, Chris on a chair that he had moved close to the tree, Kay on the rolling footstool and Velvet and myself sitting side by side on the carpet.

The first to unwrap a present was Fallow, and it was my gift to him. He gawked at the sight of the shiny new tools and I could swear I saw a tear of joy well up in his right eye before he blinked it away and thanked me. I nodded back at him with a smile as Chris unwrapped the knife I had purchased for him and as he unsheathed the blade and gave it a few test swings, decided that he liked it very much. Kay and Sepia unwrapped their gifts from me and both thanked me profusely. Kay attempted to hug me but Velvet wrapped her arms around my shoulders and shot a glare that lacked any true hatred towards her sister before uttering, "He's mine."

Velvet looked around the tree for my gift to her and after finding nothing, turned to me. "You hid it, didn't you?" She stated rather than asked.

I shrugged. "Guilty. Just give me a sec." I said, getting up from my sitting position and retrieving the jewellery box from the room they provided for me. After handing it to Velvet, she looked at the box, then to me, then back to the box before opening it.

She gasped and a hand flew over her mouth as she gazed at the two custom-made necklaces.

"What? What is…" Chris asked before leaning over in his seat and seeing the pieces of silver jewellery in the case. His eyebrows shot up and looked over at me with an approving smile. "Wow."

"Yeah, they cost me a fair bit, but she's absolutely worth it." I replied, looking at Velvet who was still stunned.

She removed the hand from her mouth and clasped the box with both hands. "J-Joe, this-this is…this is the most thoughtful gift anyone's ever gotten me." She said.

"Like I said, you're worth it." I stated. Velvet bowed her head in a vain attempt to conceal the blush forming on her face. "I figured that if you'd let me, I'd wear your symbol and you'd wear mine. Just another way we can keep each other close." I declared.

She nodded back and handed the necklace with my symbol on it to me before asking that I put it around her neck. I fastened the clip and she put the other chain around my throat. She glanced down at my symbol at her chest and smiled. "I love it."

We shared a quick kiss and then proceeded to let the rest of the family open their presents. From Fallow, I received a protective case for my scroll.

"Velvet really didn't explain what you were like, so that was really the only thing I could think to get ya." He explained with a sheepish smile.

I shook my head. "No, don't worry about it. This is perfect. I've dropped my scroll more times than I can count." I said with a chuckle.

Chris had decided to give me a whetstone to sharpen my blades with, Kay had given me a set of high-quality headphones and Sepia gifted me a recipe book of her own including the list of ingredients required for the hangover medicine.

"Now I know that you're not much of a cook, but Velvet told me that one of your teammates is so I figured that at least someone will get some use out of it." The matriarch stated.

I nodded. "Thank you so much, Sepia. I'm sure Ren'll make good use of this."

Chris was next to open a present and as he looked at the two remaining gifts, appeared to notice something. "Hey uh… hey Velv?" He asked.

"Hmm?"

"Where's your present for Joe? The only two left are my gift to Kay and mom's to dad." He stated.

Velvet's eyebrows shot up and she covered her mouth with both hands. "Oh, my gosh, I can't believe it." She whispered.

I furrowed my brow in confusion. "What? What is it?"

She removed her hands from her mouth, her rabbit ears almost dropped to the floor and she avoided my gaze. "Joe, I-I'm so sorry, I must've been so focused on shopping for everyone else that I just…. forgot about you…" She trailed off. I heard her sniffle and saw her wipe away a tear.

A stunned and awkward silence fell over the family of five as they all digested what my girlfriend had just admitted.

"Velvet," I started, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Don't think for a second that just because you forgot to get me a present means that I care about you any less. I didn't ask you out on a date that day in Vale because I wanted someone to get me shiny things on the holidays or my birthday. I asked you if you would go out with me because I wanted to be closer to **you** , wanted to spend time with **you**. You've given me exactly that and honestly, I feel that my gift to you kind of pales in comparison to the times that you've helped calm my nerves after a nightmare." I pressed my forehead to hers and lowered my voice. "I love you. Not the things you buy for me. **You** and you only."

She looked up at me and smiled before wiping away another tear. "I love you too, Joe." I smiled, leaned in for a kiss and she reciprocated, our lips meeting in the middle, flooding my mind with the joys of having Velvet as my girlfriend and having someone to lean on when times were tough.

I pulled away from the blissful connection and half smiled. "Don't feel bad." I begged. "Please? Because if you feel bad and start crying, I'm going to start crying and I don't think anyone wants to see that."

She giggled and hugged me before Kay broke the silence. "So he's definitely a keeper, right? When can we set the wedding date?"

Without breaking away from the hug, Velvet replied to her sister. "Soon."

I don't know why, but suddenly, the idea of having Velvet as my wife wasn't so scary. It wasn't a notion that I wanted to skirt around. No, it was something that I not only could envision happening, it was something I deeply wanted.

"Agreed." I stated with a wide smile.

The day was spent packing up for the upcoming flight that would leave at midnight tonight and resting so that we'd have enough energy to actually comprehend what would be happening at the airport.

Velvet's family saw us off as a taxicab waited at the end of the driveway, Velvet and myself dressed in our winter jackets and normal clothes, standing on the stone steps of the walkway as I gave Chris a brotherly hug and Velvet hugged the rest of her family.

"Keep her safe Joe." He said over my shoulder.

"Not a problem." I declared, releasing him from the embrace.

I moved onto Fallow, who breathed deeply and scratched the back of his neck. "So… sorry about getting you drunk and my earlier suspicions."

I held up a hand to stop him and smiled. "It's all right, Fallow. You were only doing what any other good father would've done. And as for the uh… incident, let's just bury that one and not dig it up again, okay?"

He nodded and smirked. "Yeah, that's probably for the best." He extended his hand and I gladly shook it. "Nice meeting you, Joe. Good luck at Beacon."

I nodded and moved onto Kay, who immediately threw her arms around me. "So happy that lil' sis finally met a keeper!" She gushed.

I chuckled at the compliment and returned the hug. "Thanks, Kay. Hopefully you'll meet someone who makes you as happy as Velvet makes me."

Velvet's sister pulled away from the hug and shrugged. "It'll happen. Just a matter of waiting."

I then looked over at a smiling Sepia, who extended her hand, which I promptly shook. "Nice meeting you, Joe. Take care of yourself and try not to get hurt during your time at Beacon, okay?"

I smiled and nodded. "I'll try, Sepia, but I'll have to make sure Velvet's safe before I do anything."

She breathed a sigh of relief and grinned. "Well, it's nice to know that someone worries about Velvet as much as I do."

The rest of the family laughed along with myself and after saying our final goodbyes, we got into the cab and were on our way to the airport where we waited to board our nighttime flight.

I went to the nearby coffee shop and ordered a double double for Velvet and a hot chocolate for myself. With the drinks in hand, I walked back to the seats where Velvet was checking her phone for any new messages.

"Hey." I said tapping her on the shoulder with the cup. "Coffee?"

She nodded with a smile and took it. I sat in the vacant place next to her and tried to think of anything that I'd need to inform Velvet about my family before we were en-route. Before I could speak though, she pulled out a gift-wrapped box out of her carry-on backpack with a folded up note attached to and handed it to me.

"What's this?" I asked, setting down my beverage on the adjacent table.

She gestured to the note with a smile. "Just read it."

I looked at the box and unfolded the paper.

 _Joe:_

 _My symbol is a stitched up heart. Before I met you, I used to think that I had it bad, dating multiple stupid guys who only wanted to hang out with me because of my team. Only now do I realize that your heart is the one that should be stitched. The amount of pain you've endured, both emotionally and physically makes you the strongest person I know and I'm proud to call you my boyfriend. I know this doesn't even come close to showing how much I really care about you, but it's a start._

 _Love, Velvet_

Intrigued, I opened the box to see an eight by ten framed picture of Velvet and myself in the diner on our first date, the very same picture that was my background on my scroll.

It was my turn to cry as I felt tears of joy well up in my eyes and quickly wiped and blinked them away. "Velvet, this is… incredible. Thank you."

"You didn't really think I'd forget my boyfriend on Dustmas of all days, did you?" She asked with a smirk.

I chuckled. "You really had me going back there." She then put her arms around my shoulders and kissed my cheek.

"Merry Dustmas, Joe."

I leaned my head against hers. "Merry Dustmas, Velvet. _"_


	25. Back to Vale

As Velvet and myself enjoyed each other's company and we conversed about what we could do back at my parent's house, our flight was called and I managed to show her a picture of Castor and Pollux together after they helped me build my weapons, each gauntleted arm around the respective uncle it was named after.

"So Castor is the bigger one with short brown hair and dark red eyes?" Velvet asked for clarification as I stowed our carry-on baggage in the overhead bins. I gave her an affirmative nod.

"Yup. And Pollux has the smaller build, long brown hair and pale green eyes." I said, closing the bin and taking my seat next to her and doing up the seatbelt.

"Okay. Is there anything I should know before I meet them and your parents? Any topics to be avoided or stuff like that?"

I tapped my chin with a finger and thought for a moment before swaying my head from side to side. "No, my uncles are pretty laid back and my parents accept everyone for who they are, not who they **should** be or what they are." I stated. "Oh and if Castor and Pollux start yelling at each other, just ignore them and watch the fun. It's just their way of jabbing at each other's career choices."

Velvet cocked an eyebrow. "They sound like quite the pair."

I nodded back and laughed. "Yeah, it's like I said, they're more like brothers to me than uncles."

After a short summarization of what my family was like, we decided to sleep for the remainder of the flight until we finally descended into the city of Vale at seven in the morning. Our plane docked at the designated area and we headed down to the baggage carousel to retrieve our luggage.

"Hey can you grab my bag for me, Joe? I just gotta use the restroom." Velvet asked me.

"Course. Just don't stay away too long okay?" I asked before giving her a peck on the cheek.

She then left with a tinge of pink on her face as I waited for the bags to come around. I retrieved the bags and my scroll vibrated twice, indicating that I'd received a text. I looked and it was from Castor saying that he and Pollux were waiting just outside the airport. I was about to reply back when I heard a voice from long ago call my name.

"Joseph?" I looked up and around to see my old neighbour Sylvia Chiffon walking towards me, her straight, long, light silver hair swaying as she moved, keeping her bright blue eyes locked on my purple ones. She was wearing an unzipped thick grey winter jacket, a pair of black sweatpants and a light grey long-sleeved shirt.

"Siv?" I asked in disbelief.

"Holy shit it's been a long time!" She declared, embracing me in a friendly hug, which I returned.

"Hell yeah, it has!" I added as we let go of each other.

She smiled and looked at me up and down. "So, what have you been up to these days?"

"Training at Beacon Academy actually." I stated with pride. "How about you?"

She smirked and let out a light laugh. "Just uh- just some banking stuff, it's pretty boring. Had to take a week to go to our branch over in Atlas to sort some stuff out." Sylvia said with a chuckle.

"Still pretty important though." I added as Velvet walked between our conversation and looked to Sylvia.

"Um, aren't you going to introduce me, Joe?" She asked with a hint of thinly veiled caution.

I mentally slapped myself. "Right. Velvet, this is my friend Sylvia, Siv this is Velvet. Siv lived in the house next to mine while I was growing up here."

"Hi." Siv said politely with a wave. "Yeah, Joe and our other friends used to call me 'Slick Sly Sylvia.'" She declared with a smirk.

I scoffed back. "Yeah that was only because every single time we went to the mall and you didn't like the price on something, you'd talk to every person working in the store to try and get a discount and if that didn't work, then you'd just try and steal it."

Velvet cocked an eyebrow. "Did it ever work?"

Siv and myself both chuckled. "No, she'd get caught every single time and be asked to leave." I replied.

She smiled and shrugged. "Can't blame me for trying." Siv then looked at the clock near the luggage carousel and then back to me. "Listen, I've gotta get back to the bank, but we should keep in contact. Here, I'll give you my number." I nodded back and opened the new contact page of my scroll before handing it to her. Seconds later, she handed it back and on my scroll was a new contact named 'Sylvia rules! :p'.

I chuckled as she walked away with a smile and a wave. I then turned my gaze to Velvet and smiled. "Come on, Castor and Pollux are waiting for us just outside."

She nodded, grabbed her rolling suitcase and followed my lead as we stepped outside to a snow-covered Vale, much thicker than it had been in Vacuo. I looked around until my eyes fell on a familiar black truck that belonged to Castor while both Pollux and him were leaning against the vehicle, apparently arguing about something, waving their arms erratically. Castor was wearing a green hoodie with a pair of black jeans and a white t-shirt while Pollux was clad in a dark purple winter jacket, dark blue hoodie, dark blue t-shirt and blue jeans.

I approached the large vehicle with Velvet walking alongside and shouted at the bickering brothers. "Hey dumb ass!"

Immediately, both their heads snapped in my direction and they grinned widely. Castor was the first to speak, as usual. "I'm pretty sure he's talking to you, Paul."

My other uncle scoffed back. "Yeah, call the guy with a degree in engineering a dumb ass."

I shook my head and gestured to Velvet. "Anyways, Cass, Paul, this is Velvet." They both waved with a wide smile. "Velvet these are my infamous uncles Castor and Pollux."

"Holy crap, Joe." Paul said with a light chuckle. "How the hell did such a repulsive guy like you wind up with a beauty like her?"

"You didn't brainwash her did ya?" Cass added with a grin.

I dropped my duffle bag. "You guys are assholes." I declared before embracing them in a hug.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too, bud." Cass stated without sarcasm, pulling away from the group hug.

"Agreed." Paul added. "Here, give me your bags, I'll put them in the back." We then let my intellectual uncle take our bags as Cass opened the door to the cab and gestured for Velvet and myself to get in the back as he sat in the driver's seat while Paul entered the front passenger seat.

I got in the seat behind Paul's and Velvet sat behind Castor even though the middle seat was wide open. _Probably doesn't see the seatbelt._ I thought.

"So how long have you guys been together?" Paul asked.

Velvet let out a light laugh. "According to others, about three or four months, but I think we can both agree that it's been closer to five." She said, shooting a smile at me.

"What makes you say five?" I replied, confused.

She shrugged. "I don't really know, it just feels like I've been attracted to you the day of the Cardin incident."

I chuckled and grinned back as I held her hand. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

"The woman's always right." Cass declared, not taking his eyes off the road. "And with your intelligence Joe, I think it's probably true in every case."

I grumbled at my uncle while Velvet laughed hysterically at my expense. Conversation to my parent's house was constant between my uncles and Velvet as they went into deep detail about some rather embarrassing stories from my childhood that I'd rather have buried under a rock never to be seen again. In the meantime, I sent a few messages to Siv detailing what life at Beacon was like, how I'd met my friends and what my semblance was.

They had just finished talking about the story that I'd told Chris about when my uncles put me in a barrel and rolled me down a hill when we pulled into the driveway of my parent's home in the suburbs.

I took a long look at the three-story house from the window of the truck before exiting. The shingles on the roof were in better condition than I'd last seen them and there was a stuffed beowolf imitation on the front lawn beside the steps to the door. Other than that, the tan-colored paint was still present, the house itself and the attached garage had no other modifications and was the same as every other house on the block. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a basement, a living room, kitchen, dining room, and rec room in the basement.

"Joe!" Cass called. I snapped my head over to the driver's side to see that he and everyone else had exited the vehicle. "I know you haven't been here since you started Beacon, but home shouldn't be that faint of a memory."

I chuckled sheepishly as Velvet removed her bag from the back of the truck and waited for me to guide her inside my home. As we walked along the concrete pathway, Cass began questioning why I hadn't contacted my parents since starting Beacon.

"They're your mom and dad for shit's sake, Joe!" Paul declared.

I shrugged as I climbed the stairs and rang the doorbell, Velvet right beside me with both the uncles behind us. "I guess that after initiation I just…" I paused, not sure how to word my next sentence. "Didn't really feel like talking to anyone."

"Well you've still got their numbers on your scroll, right?" Cass asked to which I nodded. "Then even just sending a message that only said 'I survived' would've been good enough."

Before I could argue my position any further, the front door swung open and my mom stood in the doorway, her hazel eyes still full of sleep and her short cut blue hair slightly messy wearing her dark purple housecoat with the Beacon academy symbol emblazoned over the heart, a long-sleeved pink shirt and purple pyjama pants. She first looked at me, then Velvet, then her brothers and embraced Velvet and me in a bear hug.

"It's so good to see my little Joey in good health!" She said ecstatically.

"Um… Diane?" I heard Cass ask. My mom's grip loosened slightly. "I think they need air."

She quickly dropped Velvet and myself, my breathing much more laboured than my girlfriend's. "Thanks bro." Mom said.

Cass waved her off and Paul looked at mom. "I'm here too, sis." He said with a raised hand.

As he spoke, dad walked up beside my mom wearing a light orange t-shirt with black jeans and shot a smirk at his brother-in-law. "Really Paul? Honestly didn't notice." His dark purple eyes hiding the mirth that I could see spreading across his face as he brushed a lock of chestnut brown hair out of his eyes.

"Always the comedian, hey Eric?" Cass asked with a smile.

Dad shrugged. "I try. Anyways, get in here before you guys freeze to death. I'll take your bags into the house as well." He offered as Velvet and myself gladly gave him our own luggage.

As we entered my childhood home, I realized that the interior was exactly the same as it had been when I left. The closet was still right next to the front door, the dining room and kitchen were still directly on the right, lit up by the daylight that shone through a large window and open, the only space separating the two being a small counter. To the left were two sets of stairs, one that led up to my parent's bedroom and a bathroom, the other led to a bathroom and the rec room where I assumed my parents still had my old gaming console, a wall-mounted HDTV, along with several bean bag chairs, a leather couch and a DVD player. My room had the only attached bathroom and was on the ground floor along with the guest bedroom.

"By the way Joe, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" Dad asked as he went down the hall and dropped our bags off in my room before returning.

"Right." _Introductions would probably be a good idea._ "Uh mom, dad, this is Velvet. My girlfriend." I declared with a proud smile.

Mom smiled and waved to her. "Nice to meet you. I'm Diane, but you can call me Di for short or Mrs. Taren."

Velvet's smile reached from ear to ear as she waved back. "All right, Di." She then looked to my dad. And your name's Eric right?"

Dad extended his hand and Velvet returned the gesture. "Yup. Eric Taren, at your service."

Velvet giggled and looked back to my mom. "Well, we certainly picked the right guys."

Mom smiled her classic motherly smile and shrugged. "Maybe **you** did, but I'm still trying to train this one to pick up after himself." She said, gesturing to dad.

Dad looked to mom and shot her a smirk and a shrug. "I'm a slow learner."

"You'd think after twenty years of marriage you would've learned by now though." I interjected.

"Okay, I'm a very slow learner." He admitted with a sheepish smile as he curiously gazed at the chain around my neck. "What's that?" He asked, intrigued.

I glanced at Velvet and smiled as I began to regale my parents and uncles about my Dustmas and what I gave Velvet as well as what she gave me. We then took the conversation into the dining room as mom made some breakfast for Velvet and myself. I mentioned everything about my visit with her family aside from getting drunk with Fallow.

Much to my chagrin however, Velvet deemed it necessary to be included in my retelling as I began to shrink down in my chair and hold my head in my hands.

"So-so me, Chris, Kay and my mom are all in bed when we hear someone open the front door." Velvet began, already laughing. "Ch-Chris is already out of bed and at the front door by the time the rest of us get there and then I hear two people talking really loudly, right?" She said, looking to my dad and uncles who I could already see grinning as they sat around the dining room table. "I get there and Joe and my dad have their arms around each other's shoulders, both of them completely hammered, talking about carrots or something and just stumbling everywhere."

At this point, Cass and Paul were almost busting their guts laughing so hard while my dad tried to hold back his laughter as he listened on.

"There I am trying to get Joe out of his winter jacket so that he can sleep comfortably and he just looks at me and goes: 'I think you remind me of someone.' I said my name to him and then he tilts his head and goes: 'oh. I guess it is you! Hey, Velv, how are you?'"

I facepalmed at the memory and let out an embarrassed groan as my family continued to laugh.

"I try to take off his jacket but he pushes me away and you know what he says?" Velvet asked with a smile, looking to my dad who had now stopped laughing and shot a glare at me.

"What did he say?" Dad asked cautiously.

"He said and I quote: 'I already have a girlfriend and she's the best!' After that, he went off to bed and we showed him and my dad the video the next morning." She finished with another smile as she held my hand.

I gave her hand a gentle squeeze and looked at dad. "Yeah, as it turns out, even when I'm drunk I know that Velvet's the only girl in the world for me."

Dad chuckled and leaned back in his chair. "So overall, you guys had a nice Dustmas?"

"Yeah, it was pretty good." Velvet declared.

"Well as long as you two had fun, that's all that really matters." Mom interjected as she placed a plate of her homemade waffles in front of both of us glazed with syrup. "Want anything to drink, Velvet?"

"Orange juice please."

"Milk for me." I added.

Over breakfast I gave my parents and uncles a brief summary of what life at Beacon was like, including a brief once-over about the demise of Andrea, Denara and Elias.

"Joe… that's-that's awful." Mom stated sympathetically. "I can't believe Andrea's gone."

Cass nodded, just as stunned as mom and dad. "I know a good therapist if you want to go." He offered.

I shook my head and swallowed a mouthful of waffles before answering. "Thanks, but I've already got my own therapist."

"One of the Professors at Beacon?" Paul asked.

"She's actually sitting right across from you." I said, nodding over to Velvet. "No one understands me better than her and I just feel so lucky to have someone like her to talk to." Velvet smiled back and moved her chair closer to mine as my scroll buzzed once more, notifying me of a message from Siv. I quickly replied to her question of asking what I was doing with a 'just hanging out with the family.'

"So, on a happier note, what do you guys want to do for the rest of today?" I asked everyone as I stuffed the scroll back in my pocket.

Cass shrugged and took a drink from his coffee cup. "We could head downtown, hit the arcade and go to a movie afterwards."

"Great! Let's go!" Dad said with enthusiasm as he made for the front door.

"Ah, not so fast Eric." Mom declared waving a disapproving finger at her husband. "I got a lot of cleaning to do around here and you're going to help set up the rooms for Cass, Paul, Joe and Velvet."

Paul stifled a chuckle at the remark while Cass chugged the rest of his coffee and gestured for Velvet and me to follow him out to the truck.

Dad let out a growl and looked to his engineer brother-in-law. "Yeah, remind me how long your last relationship went on for." He snarked back.

Paul made to open his mouth, but no words came out. He then sighed and silently walked out the front door as dad held a smug look on his face. "Exactly. Let that be a lesson to you Joe. Being 'whipped' is another way of saying your respect your girlfriend."

I nodded back as I opened the door for Velvet and walked out to the truck with Cass right behind. The drive into Vale was comfortable as my brother-like uncles and Velvet got to know each other as I texted back and forth with Siv along the way. We finally arrived at the downtown Vale mall and made for the arcade, Velvet once again dominating at the DDR machine while Paul struggled to keep pace with her. Cass and I tried our hands at a shooting gallery style game, which my burly uncle managed to beat me at by just five points, which I attributed to sheer luck.

We managed to burn a few hours and more than a few lien there as we walked out with our prizes; a scale beowolf figure Velvet gifted me with her winnings and an adhesive glove for Cass and Paul to mess around with. By the time we finished, it was four thirty and the four of us made our way to the nearby movie theatre where we decided on watching a comedy about a retired Special Forces soldier who was asked to train a group of incredibly disorganized new guys.

After the two-hour film, we decided to call it quits for the day and headed home. The second I opened the door, I was hit with a wave of incredibly inviting smells including that of roast chicken which was one of my favorites. I looked to my left to see dad setting the table for six with a big chicken in the middle of the table surrounded by a Caesar salad, mashed potatoes along with roasted veggies.

"Oh. Hey guys." Mom said from behind the counter separating the kitchen from the dining room. "You hungry?"

Velvet shrugged. "I could eat."

"Yeah." Cass and Paul declared simultaneously in awe at the sight.

I already pulled out a chair for Velvet to sit in before she answered my mom's question, eager to dive into the delicious meal.

After I had finished my fair share of food, I leaned back in my seat and patted my stomach contently while everyone else was still eating.

"So are you guys comfortable enough to sleep in the same room together?" Dad asked, biting into a chicken leg.

Cass scoffed. "I grew up with this guy." He stated as he gestured to Paul. "I think that three nights won't be a problem."

"Not you, stupid." He replied with a shake of his head. Dad then looked to Velvet then me. "You guys. You mind spending the night together? The only other position open is the couch in the basement, but it's already pretty cold down there."

I shook my head. "No, we've spent our share of nights together at Beacon." I said as the innuendo dawned on me a second later. "Uh-wh-what I mean is- what I meant to say is that uh…"

Velvet facepalmed at my stuttering and shot a pleading look over to my mom. "Di, why is it always the guys who say the stupid stuff?"

She shrugged and looked back at my girlfriend with a sympathetic expression. "Must be genetically encoded."

Velvet laughed as I continued to struggle to form a proper sentence. "Eric, what Joe meant to say is that no, we don't have any problem spending the night together or sharing a bed. He's had nightmares since initiation day and I've had my share of bad dreams so whenever one of us can't sleep, we go to the other person's dorm and spend the night cuddling each other until we fall asleep." She explained.

Dad nodded. "Thank you, Velvet." I breathed a sigh of relief and sank further into my seat. "Joe, you really gotta think about what you're saying before it actually comes out of your mouth."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, getting people to understand what I'm saying has never been a skill of mine."

"Thanks, captain obvious." Paul said with a smirk and a chuckle.

After playfully punching my intellectual uncle on the shoulder, I went into my room, showered, changed into my pajamas and told Velvet that I'd be watching a movie in the basement if she wanted to join me, which she did after finishing her own dinner. We then stayed up until about midnight re-watching childhood classics we loved as kids and headed off to bed. I texted Siv a goodnight and almost instantly fell asleep, my arms wrapped around Velvet's waist and hers around mine as we faced each other.

I heard her let out a satisfied yawn as she buried her face in the crook of my neck. "Goodnight baby. Love you.

"I love you too." I replied softly, gently stroking her hair as I felt sleep quickly closing in.


	26. Abnormalities

My eyes lazily opened the next morning expecting to see nothing but Velvet's beautiful face, but as I slowly took in my surroundings, I realized she wasn't in bed at all. I yawned and sat up as I looked around to see where she might've gone. The bathroom door was open and my bedroom door was shut, so she must've gotten up earlier than me to have breakfast with the rest of my family. That was my original thought until I looked at the clock and saw that it read 7:34. I knew my parents almost never got up until after eight and on their days off, Cass and Paul slept until ten.

After pulling on a fresh pair of socks and grabbing my scroll, I quietly opened my bedroom door and headed to the dining room/kitchen where I saw Velvet making breakfast in her pajamas and my hoodie.

Upon hearing me approach, she looked up from her work and shot me a bright smile. "Morning, handsome."

I grinned back. "Morning. What uh… what's this?" I asked, gesturing to the frying pan on the stove.

She shrugged and shuffled the skillet back and forth on the element. "Just my way of saying thanks for introducing me to your family." She then grabbed two mugs from the cupboard and looked back to me. "Hot chocolate or orange juice?"

"Hot chocolate please." Velvet nodded back and heated up a kettle of water and with my directions as to where everything was kept, poured two cups of the warm liquid for herself and me. I eyed her curiously as she gently set down the mug in front of me as to not spill a single drop. "Since when do you cook?"

She returned to the frying pan and scraped the fried eggs onto a plate before answering me. "Ever since I took lessons from Yatsuhashi." She replied. "The going was rough at first and I burnt more than my fair share of eggs, bacon, chicken, steaks and other assorted foods, but I finally got the hang of it after a couple months." The toaster then sprung up and she rushed to put the two pieces of perfectly toasted bread on the plate before placing it in front of me along with a fork and knife.

I gave her a smile and nod as I dug into the egg whites first as Velvet awaited my opinion and honestly; she did a damn good job. I'd be willing to wager my life on the fact that she could cook as well as my mom or hers. I gave her another approving smile while she sat in the empty seat next to me and attached herself to my arm. While certainly not unwelcome, the amount of attention she'd been giving me just this morning was undoubtedly unusual.

"You feeling all right?" I asked, slightly suspicious.

"Never better since I've got the greatest boyfriend a girl could ask for." She declared sweetly, giving my cheeks and ears a light pinkish tinge to them.

"What're you going to have for breakfast though?" I asked as I recovered from the blush.

"I think just some cereal will be fine."

"Okay. Mom keeps every cereal in the cupboard next to the fridge and bowls are a shelf above the cups." I said. Velvet kissed me on the cheek and then got her own breakfast together.

As we ate in a comfortable silence, Cass and Paul were the next to wake up with Cass wearing a Pumpkin Pete's black and orange hoodie, a green t-shirt and forest green plaid pants. Paul was close behind wearing his usual purple hoodie, navy blue t-shirt and denim jeans.

"I'm just saying, you shouldn't take so damn long to straighten out your freakin' hair!" Cass more or less hollered at his brother.

"I prefer the word 'kempt' to straighten." Paul stated. "And secondly, just because your head looks like a mop doesn't mean that mine has to."

I sighed at the sight and gave Velvet a look of apology before shouting at Cass. His head swivelled to me and I gestured to the kitchen. "Grab some coffee and Paul, lay off." I ordered. My uncles growled at each other one last time before Paul grabbed some leftover waffles in the fridge freezer while Cass poured himself a mug of caffeine, sugar and milk.

After both of their moods had mellowed out significantly, they apologized and we were discussing our plans for the day.

"Arcade?" Paul offered.

I shook my head as I dipped my toast into the yellow of the egg. "Naw, I think I've had my fill of arcades for the holidays."

"Same." Velvet piled on.

Cass took another swig of coffee and stole a piece of toast from his brother's plate. "How about skating?"

"Sure. How about you, Velv? Feel like going skating today?" I asked.

She gave me an almost blindingly bright smile and nodded. "So long as I'm with you, I don't care what we do."

Cass half-smiled as my scroll buzzed. While he spoke, I looked at the sender of the message and it was from Siv saying good morning. I replied with a g'morning of my own and returned my attention back to my huntsman uncle. "The pond is completely frozen over and just north of here, so we can either walk or drive." He stated.

"I think we should walk." Velvet interjected. "No harm in a little exercise, right?"

Paul nodded. "Okay then, I'll see if I can dig out the skates and I think we should also bring a thermos of hot chocolate just for the hell of it." Each of us agreed and finished the last of our breakfasts as Paul fished out a pair of skates for each of us. Thankfully, Velvet had the same size feet as my mom and managed to fit into a pair of her old skates she hadn't used in years.

After we donned our winter clothes, we began to trek across the snowy wasteland, the frozen air nipping at our ears and faces. Again, Velvet kept closer than usual to me as she resembled a magnet attached to a piece of metal with my right arm playing the part of steel.

As we continued on our short journey, my scroll once again went off in my jeans pocket and Siv had asked me what I was up to today. I gave her a 'nothing much' which apparently didn't satisfy her curiosity as she continued to interrogate me from a distance until I told her I was going skating. I stuffed the device back in my pocket and noticed that Velvet's grasp on my arm had now bordered on unpleasant due to the fact that she was cutting off the blood supply.

I said nothing to her, merely kept my pain internalized as we approached our destination. In a word, the place was serene. Trees formed a semi-circle on the west side as the other half of the area surrounding the icy pond was nothing but hills which could serve as a bench provided that someone dug out some snow.

"All right, you guys strap on your skates and I'll see what I can do about making a couple decent snow seats." Cass declared.

As my huntsman uncle went about digging out the snow in the hill and packed it down so that it formed a makeshift set of chairs, the rest of us laced up our skates and began to swiftly move around the pond. Unfortunately, it had been quite a while since I'd last put on a pair of the icy blades and ended up falling more than a few times but Velvet was there to pick me up every single time. Soon enough, I found myself able to skate properly again and Velvet soon reattached herself to my arm as we moved along the frozen pond.

After a few hot chocolate breaks and a few hours of gliding on the ice, we decided to call it a day and headed back home, my scroll going off every few minutes to alert me to Siv's constant messages. Once back at home, I let Velvet have the first hot shower and we spent the remainder of the day cuddling and watching more old movies in our pyjamas on the couch downstairs.

At about ten at night when we decided to head for bed. As I lay in my childhood home while Velvet was in the attached bathroom, I couldn't remove the smile from my face as I reminded myself just how incredibly lucky I was to have her as my girlfriend. The door to the bathroom opened and light flooded the rest of the bedroom. The light soon clicked off and with my back to her, I shuffled over to make more room for Velvet as she crawled in and wrapped her arms around my waist.

Something felt odd about her grip though and as I turned over to face her, I realized that Velvet was wearing only her underwear consisting of a brown bra and panties.

"Um… Velvet?" I started, feeling the heat rush to my cheeks.

"Yeah?" She replied casually.

"Aren't you just a little bit cold?"

In the darkness, I could still see her shake her head. "No, I'm fine." I didn't think anything more of it until five minutes later when I flipped back over and she began to leave a trail of light kisses down my neck.

"Velv?"

"Yes?"

"What uh… what're you doin'?"

She giggled quietly before moving her face close to my ear and whispering in a sultry voice: "Just showing my great boyfriend how much he means to me."

I was starting to get worried as I began to fear Velvet's true intentions that were confirmed when I felt her reach for the waistband of my pants. My brain and my heart were at war with each other as my brain wanted to give in and take my relationship with Velvet to the next step but my heart objected by stating that the whole situation wasn't right and that something was wrong. Thankfully, the muscle in my chest won the debate and I quickly turned back over and gave her a worried look. "Velvet, I'm not ready for this. Not yet." I declared.

She gave me a mischievous smile. "Don't worry Joe, I am." She then reached for my waistband again but I grabbed her hands firmly. Not enough to cause harm, but just enough to stop her in her tracks as she looked me in the eyes.

"Velvet. I know this isn't you. The you I know isn't this forward and I'm also getting the feeling that something else is going on here, so please I'm begging you, tell me what it is."

Her smile then began to fade as her lust passed and she turned her back to me. "Velvet, I can't help if I don't know what's bothering you." I said quietly. She whispered something under her breath. "I'm sorry?" I replied.

She mumbled it again and I could still barely hear anything but I did manage to make out the name 'Siv'

Realization hit me like a rock flying at a hundred miles an hour. I'd been spending all this time with Velvet and talking with Sylvia the whole time, making Velvet feel jealous.

For a solid five minutes of awkward silence, I couldn't think of anything to say until I decided to hand Velvet my scroll. With a look of confusion on her face, she took it and sat up. I mirrored her position and began to explain.

"Just send her a message saying whatever you want. I want you to know that you're the only one for me and that no old female friends are going to sway how I feel about you. Remember what I said back at your parent's house after I got drunk with your dad? Drunk, sober, dead-"

"Alive, there's no way you'd cheat on me." She finished for me. I smiled and gave her a nod.

"Text Siv whatever you want." Velvet then took a picture of me and sent it to my silver-themed friend with the caption; 'Sorry bitch, he's mine.' A few seconds later, Siv replied with: 'Who the hell is this?'

'His girlfriend' Velvet returned.

A flurry of messages was then sent to my scroll, ranging from 'How come that asshole didn't mention he had a girlfriend earlier?! I can't believe I wasted my time talking to him' to 'I hope that pathetic bastard gets dumped just so he can feel my pain.'

The messages went on and on, Velvet and myself breaking into chuckles as she continued to freak the fuck out. It got humorous until she called Velvet a bitch then I took the scroll from Velvet's hands, removed Siv from my contacts list and blocked her number. "Andrea always said she was bad news anyways." I declared with a shrug.

Still smiling, I turned to Velvet who held an ashamed look on her face. "Look, I'm sorry that…" That was as far as I let her go before I silenced her with a quick kiss.

"You're not the one who has to apologize." I stated. "I should've realized that Siv was flirting with me and that she was making you uncomfortable. So I'm sorry I'm so fucking thick-headed, Velvet. I'm sorry that I didn't realize Siv's intentions earlier and I'm sorry that she tried to come between us."

She giggled and gave me a warm hug. "It's alright Joe. Now I'm going to change into something warmer and we're going to put this all behind us, okay?" She asked sternly.

I nodded back quickly. "Yes ma'am." After sharing another quick kiss, Velvet pulled on her regular pyjamas along with my hoodie and we fell asleep, wrapped in each other's embrace with stupid grins plastered on both our faces.


	27. Returning With Friends

(AN: So before you guys start reading, i want you to know I'm not exactly a hundred percent satisfied with the way this chapter was written because it was a filler and kind of rushed so I won't blame you if you don't like it. Anyways, I'll let you get to it.)

During the final day of our stay at my parent's house, my family and Velvet simply decided to watch TV and play a couple video and board games until midnight when we decided to fly back to Beacon. After bidding them a goodbye and a promise that I'd keep my parents updated on my progress at the academy, we were wished well and given hugs and handshakes.

The week after we got back was spent with our own individual teams as Velvet and myself agreed unanimously while we loved each other, we **did** need our own time apart. As I regrouped with my team, I found that after Nora had gone berserk Dustmas eve, accidentally kissed Ren in the heat of the moment and he had reciprocated the gesture and declared his love for the bubbly grenadier. Jaune and Pyrrha's visits with each of their families had gone swimmingly as Jaune's seven sisters had happily accepted her as an eighth while Pyrrha's parents approved of our team leader without any qualms.

"But my sisters decided to go ahead and put makeup on me while I slept and Pyrrha didn't do anything!" Jaune regaled us with his visit while Ren made hot chocolate in the kitchen, Nora jumped on her bed, I sat in my desk chair and Pyrrha hugged her partner from behind, stifling a few laughs.

"In their defense though, he did look even cuter than usual." The Champion declared, adding a light tinge of pink to Jaune's cheeks.

"So overall everyone had good visits?" Ren asked, handing a mug of the hot liquid to each of us.

I nodded and clasped the cup with both hands. "Yeah and it sounds like your stay was even more eventful."

Jaune smiled from ear to ear and gazed at the Ninja and Grenadier. "So how does it feel now that you guys are officially together-together?"

"It's insane!" Nora said ecstatically. "I mean, he's not insane, but the situation's insane. And not like the crazy insane I mean the happy kind like…"

"Nora?" Ren cut off his partner and girlfriend.

"Yeah?" He said nothing in return but gave her a light peck on the cheek, sending her into a silence.

"So it's back to classes tomorrow." I declared.

Jaune nodded as he took a sip from his mug. "Yeah and I'm curious as to how our third and fourth semesters are going to go."

"Do you think we'll get many more missions?" I asked the room.

"Of course." Pyrrha replied. "Otherwise the rest of the school year will be pretty stale and we all know that the Headmaster wouldn't let that happen."

I scoffed. "Yeah, he just loves putting us in dangerous situations."

"Well…" Jaune spoke up. "They seem to help."

I agreed with a smirk and a nod as we then spent the remainder of the day catching up with RWBY who all had a good time on Dustmas but Weiss seemed happier than usual. It seemed that Neptune had finally cracked the Ice Queen's cold shell and she was now much more friendly to everyone and now held an air around her that declared so.

The morning after, I found it very tough to get out of bed due to the fact that it'd been a while since I had to get up at eight in the morning. Begrudgingly however, I lifted myself off the sheets with a yawn and trudged into the bathroom with my Beacon academy uniform in hand. After a nice hot shower, I clasped the necklace with Velvet's symbol behind my neck and smiled to myself at the memory. As soon as the rest of my team was up, we headed down to the cafeteria for our regular breakfast and made for our regular classes.

It took until the end of the month, but I finally managed to get back into the regular routine of getting up, showering, eating, then classes and the odd study date with Velvet.

During that time, Ruby had repaired my gauntlets by installing a new blade in Pollux and reshaping the metal on Castor, making them good as new and I repaid the little Reaper with a box of chocolate chip cookies as promised, which Yang was… less than happy about when her sister was talking at the same speed she moved as she zipped around Beacon grounds.

I had also gotten some training with Ren on how to properly use Dusk. I wasn't exactly a master with my old friend's sword, but my skill had definitely been improved. Jaune had also become quite a bit stronger thanks to his partner/girlfriend's training regiment but it didn't show very much. His voice had also become deeper but he was still the same old Jaune; compassionate, friendly, a little socially awkward and sometimes clumsy but my loyalty to him didn't waver for a second.

Yang had become a little more serious as she joked a little less and appeared to have a more mature take on matters. Unfortunately for Jaune and myself however, Vomit-boy and Blay-boy weren't going away any time soon.

As for Blake, I don't know whether it was Sun's presence or just something that occurred within the faunus but I found her smiling a lot more often than she used to.

Ruby hadn't changed mentally one bit as she constantly gave serious advice when it was required and joked to lift all our spirits. Physically though, she was slowly growing taller into the young woman she was destined to be and the rest of her body followed suit, which is a subject I would rather not think about for fear of Yang bringing down the full extent of her wrath on me and the fact that I had a girlfriend.

Along those lines, the intimacy between Velvet and myself had not lost its flare and neither did the sensations that came with it; the intoxicating scent of her shampoo, the feeling of her silk-like skin and the sight of her beautiful smile in the morning light. Even though we still hadn't crossed over into third or fourth base, I very much enjoyed her company and it appeared that she enjoyed mine as well. Both of our nightmares had finally dissipated and we still cuddled four times a week at minimum, an activity that was either spent watching movies until we fell asleep or just in total silence. The necklaces we wore were more or less permanently attached. I only took mine off to shower or go to the gym but any other time of day, Velvet's symbol could be seen hanging around my neck and mine around hers.

Then, two months into the New Year, Professor Ozpin approached Jaune with a mission for us, team RWBY and apparently team CFVY as well.

"So where are we going and what are we doing?" Ren asked the same evening in the cafeteria with RWBY across from us.

The leader of the other team gave the Lotus Ninja a shrug. "Sounds like we're going to be helping this village just north of here get back on their feet by eliminating grimm, gathering resources and making sure that their fortifications are good." Ruby replied, taking another bite of her chocolate chip cookie.

Just north? "Did he happen to mention the name of the place?" I inquired to both team leaders.

"Hash-no that's not it. Heha..." Jaune started.

"Hishan?"

His eyebrows shot up and gave me a nod. "That's it! Hishan. Why, you know the place?"

"It's where Ozpin sent me to take care of the Omega." A dead silence followed my statement as everyone looked down at their trays and kept eating. "Guys… we can talk about this whenever you want. Look, I should've died but I didn't and I don't see it as something that should be avoided."

"Yeah but the problem is Blay-boy, that wasn't just a traumatic experience for you, it was also pretty hard on all of us." The blonde brawler declared.

I mentally slapped myself for not realizing that it also might be tough for my friends to think of the time when I came dangerously close to leaving this mortal coil. I let out a deep breath and let my head hang low in shame. "Okay, if you guys don't want to talk about it, then I won't bother bringing it up again."

With a grateful smile, Nora clapped a hand on my shoulder which I could swear left a small bruise. "Thanks Jojo."

I gave the bubbly grenadier a small smile while Pyrrha questioned Jaune about the mission.

"But why would they need thirteen students just to help out one settlement?" The crimson-haired champion asked.

"Well, even though it's only got about eighty people in it, last time I checked it was pretty banged up." I supplied. "Buildings were half-destroyed, supplies were running low and of course there were quite a few grimm close by. Then again, that was when the Omega was still alive so they're probably gone by now."

Weiss held up a finger with a grimace. "Actually, they wouldn't." She said in a slightly disappointed voice. "Just because an Omega dies doesn't exactly mean that every single one of the grimm following it are going to leave the area alone. There will probably be a few stragglers and if they sense aggression…"

"They'll attack the settlement again." Ren finished grimly.

I let out a deep breath and looked to my team leader. "So? When are we going?"

"We're leaving tomorrow at noon, so we should probably pack up either tonight or first thing tomorrow morning."

We all nodded in agreement and Blake gave me a curious look. "Anything you can tell us about the place that we should know?"

I pondered the question for a moment. "Well, they'll probably set us up in a single house for all thirteen of us, so sleeping bags would probably be a good idea and if you meet a guy named Henry, just stay out of his way."

Ruby cocked an eyebrow at the statement. "Why's that?"

"He's uh…" I let out a humourless chuckle. "I'll just say that he likes to go by the book." I left the rest of the table confused as I returned to the dorm and packed up once again to leave for Hishan. As I slipped my hands into my gauntlets and tested the pressure switches, a brief image of the Omega biting into my mid-section and its massive black figure against the grey of the rainclouds while lightning flashed in the background popped into my head.

I fell backwards onto the floor and found my breathing heavy and quick before reality dawned on me.

Not a great start, Joe. My hands then removed themselves from the weapons and I resumed filling my duffle bag with everything that I needed for the mission.

The next day after breakfast, our team and RWBY regrouped at the road to the airship docks as we waited for team CFVY and the bullheads that would deliver us to our destination. Snow still decorated the ground, but the air was fairly warm and the mid-day sunlight was starting to melt it away.

Idle chatter was present among each of our small groups as the fashionista, the human giant, the blind brawler and my badass, hand-to-hand proficient, beowolf jaw-kicking beautiful girlfriend Velvet approached from the dorms, a duffle bag over each of their shoulders save for Coco and Yatsu, the team leader with only her gatling-gun handbag while Yatsu shouldered two.

With a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face, Coco looked at each of us then her eyes settled on Yang. "You guys able to keep up?"

The blonde brawler scoffed and folded her arms. "If you can stop checking your shoes for dirt every five seconds, maybe you guys can actually gain some ground." She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

All eyes widened and no one spoke as Coco frowned and after a moment, began to chuckle and enveloped Yang in a one-armed hug. "Good to see ya, firehead."

The rest of us relaxed as Yang returned the hug and chuckled back before they separated bearing matching smirks. "You too, puffs."

Puffs? I thought. As if to answer my question, Coco spoke up. "Like the cereal, guys." She addressed everyone.

We all let out understanding ahhs while Fox shook his head in disgust. "Eugh. Shit's nasty."

Nora furrowed her brow. "What's to hate? It's pure chocolate!"

"Yeah, that's my point!" He objected. "A cereal should have something other than just one flavour!"

"You can always add in fruit." Yatsu added.

My fellow blind gauntlet user pointed a finger at him and lowered his voice. "Chocolate and fruit do not belong together."

"There's chocolate covered strawberries." I pitched in.

Fox gave me a confused look. "You high? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

What happened next was the following: Yang lost it on Fox when he called the chocolate covered fruit dumb while Nora agreed with Fox and started a heated debate about what was good when combined with chocolate which went on far longer than it should've. The two bullheads then arrived and we boarded, team RWBY except for Yang and the rest of my team taking one bullhead while CFVY, myself and Yang boarded the other.

"So Yang tells me you've been to this place before." Coco stated as she looked to me.

"Yeah, it's where I fought against the Omega." I replied as the engines whirred to life and we took off.

"So what can you tell me about it? Why would Ozpin send thirteen students to make sure it's alright?"

"A safe haven for ex-military personnel?" I offered with a shrug.

"Ex-military?" Velvet echoed.

"Yeah, most of the people who live there served in Vale's armed forces before they got out early. I've seen them fight and they're pretty good."

"An outpost then." Yatsu added. "Think about it, if a horde of grimm approaches from the north, then these people would be able to hold them back the longest and send Vale a warning to evacuate or bunker down."

While the others discussed the mission, I ended up getting lost in my thoughts as we neared the familiar forests and mountain range. I continued to gaze out the window of the dropship as the horrid memory of making the discovery that the Omega had gotten through my aura and blood stained through my shirt and onto my hoodie flashed through my mind. I remembered the pain and the realization that I was living my final moments and it terrified me.

A hand placed itself on my shoulder, snapping me back to the present as Velvet gave me a concerned look. "You alright? You looked like you just spaced out."

I mustered the best smile I could and shook my head. "I'm fine, baby girl. Just thinking about some stuff."

She smiled back, gave me a peck on the cheek and lay her head on my shoulder before whispering; "You're such a bad liar." I grimaced and mentally kicked myself for believing that I could lie to the one person who knew me the best apart from my family.

Hishan came into view and rather than performing a shock-drop like last time, the dropships actually landed in the small clearing just a few dozen feet away from the southern barricade. The thirteen of us disembarked our airships and they flew off, the sound of the engines being replaced by Nora's talk about candy. Thankfully Ren had the sense to shut her up with a kiss and our bubbly grenadier blushed and went mute as I led the group towards the settlement.

"Well look who it is!" I heard a familiar voice call. I looked up as Grace approached with a smile adorned in a pink jacket the same shade as her hair, a t-shirt and blue jeans. "Good to see ya walking straight again, Wardog."

I extended my free hand as my other grasped my duffle bag and she shook it hard before releasing it. "Good to see you too, Grace." I replied. "So Ozpin told us to assist you guys in rebuilding?"

She nodded with a slight frown and gestured to some of the torn up buildings. "Yeah, we just need you guys to give us more of a kickstart in repairing the structures, killing a few grimm we've seen around the area and re-establishing our supply lines."

I nodded. "Oh, by the way, this is my team, JNPR and our leader Jaune, team RWBY and their leader, Ruby and this is team CFVY and-"

"Coco Adel pleased to meet you." The fashionista interrupted me with an extended hand.

Grace smiled and returned the gesture. "Same. Alright, Henry's designated three houses for each of your teams for the duration of your stay so if you'll just follow me…"

Jaune stepped forth with a raised hand. "Actually Ma'am, I don't think that we need three buildings for all of us. Just one will do." I made a mental note to thank Jaune later for bringing it up.

Grace looked back, slightly confused. "Are you sure you won't be cramped?"

My team leader chuckled back. "I grew up in a house of nine, Ma'am. I assure you that I an our teams have no issues sleeping in the same house, right guys?" We all gave nods of agreement and Grace nodded back with a small smile.

"Okay, if that's the way you feel, then follow me." We complied with our bags in tow as she pointed out a two-story house that was similar to the one they had converted into a mess hall during the Omega occupation. Featuring a living room, which we'd probably have to turn into the dining room/ large shared bedroom, a kitchen with a wood stove, three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

"Sorry about the small space, but if you guys ever want to occupy the other two houses, all you have to do is ask." Grace declared apologetically.

The three team leaders turned around to face her while the rest of us walked inside to explore our new quarters. "It's really no problem at all, ma'am." Jaune declared.

"Exactly. We'll make it work." Ruby added.

"If we need anything, we'll be sure to ask." Coco added.

"Okay then, I'll leave you all to get settled and meet with Henry and myself by the watchtower in an hour." Grace said before departing.

"Did you guys happen to see a watchtower?" Coco asked.

"Nope." Came Ruby's simple reply.

"Uh-uh." Jaune grunted.

"It's the town hall." I declared before dropping my bag in the living room. "They probably took it down after I left."

Before anyone could say anything else, Fox and Yatsu's voices could be heard shouting at each other from upstairs.

"No way, big man!" Fox yelled defiantly. " **I'm** getting the bedroom!"

"Yeah fat chance, white eyes! I'm bigger and I need more space to sleep!" Yatsu objected.

Coco heaved a frustrated sigh while I struggled to hold back my laughter and keep a straight face.

"Neither of you is getting the bed!" She shouted as she ascended the stairs. Coco then proceeded to use her authority as team leader to end the heated debate between her two bickering teammates and explained that the other two bedrooms would be for the leaders of the other teams. Her other two teammates descended the stairs with dejected looks and we divided up the sleeping quarters into the following: Ruby and Coco would take the bedrooms while Jaune and his partner would share the other one with Weiss, Blake and Yang taking the dining room as the rest of us would spread out over the living room with Yatsuhashi taking the couch instead of the bed. After getting settled and unloading our supplies, we met with Grace and Henry in front of the town hall, the older veteran's face still bearing that ever-familiar scowl.

He gave me a quick glance before looking to the others. "On behalf of everyone living here, I would like to extend my most sincere gratitude towards each and every one of you for coming to our aid."

"No trouble at all, sir." Jaune replied. "Everyone deserves to live in peace, especially our veterans."

Henry gave Jaune what almost looked like a smile before continuing to talk. "As I'm sure Grace has already informed you, we are low on resources, require rebuilding and extra safety precautions. Gathering resources will be easy once we re-establish supply lines but until then, we have to gather what we can from the forest. Firewood, berries, meat, anything. Rebuilding is self-explanatory; we need a few of you to assist our construction workers in repairing the houses and other structures while the last of you search the surrounding area for grimm and eliminate them." He explained. "These assignments should take no longer than two weeks, so divide up your time accordingly." With that, Henry turned on his heel and entered the town hall.

I folded my arms and scoffed at Grace. "Henry's still Henry, huh?"

She nodded back with a grimace. "Yeah, sorry about him guys. You'll get used to him eventually."

I leaned in next to Velvet. "You actually don't." I whispered. She smiled back as we began to divide up the assignments.

"Okay…" Jaune started with a deep breath. "So how about this; since rebuilding probably involves heavy lifting, we get Yang, Nora, Yatsuhashi and myself to help with that?"

"Sure you can handle that, Arc?" Coco asked doubtfully.

Jaune merely shrugged back. "If I can't, I'll swap with someone else." The statement seemed to satisfy her as my team leader continued. "As for gathering resources, how about Ruby, Fox, Weiss and Ren get on that?"

"Why me?" The heiress asked.

"Easy. Some berries may be poisonous and I think that with your knowledge, you can probably tell if they are or not, am I right?" In another reality, that probably would've sounded like another attempt at courting coming from Jaune but now it was just a sincere compliment.

The Ice Queen smirked and nodded. "Yes, that's true. I've studied vegetation and my knowledge is quite extensive."

Jaune nodded back. "Okay then, that leaves Joe, Pyrrha, Velvet, Coco and Blake for search and destroy duty."

I gave him a confused look. "Wouldn't I be more suited for resource gathering?"

"Nope. You know these forests better then any of us. Without you, we'd literally be lost." He declared.

I gave him a quick nod as we dispersed and I led the way out of the south barricade with Velvet at my side while the others trailed behind by a few feet.

"So are you sure you're okay?" She asked.

I gave my girlfriend a nod. "Yeah. I mean, it's not exactly a vacation to be back to the place where I nearly died but it's something that has to be done." I admitted.

We started heading towards the cave where the Omega had made its den for about half a kilometre before heading west, hoping to form a larger safe perimeter around the settlement. Our first engagement was quick and easy with two beowolves and half a dozen ursai, Coco cutting down the wolf-grimm like wheat in a field with her gatling gun while the rest of us dealt with the ursai. Velvet sent one straight up in the air with a devastating kick to the jaw and I planted myself where it was going to land as I extended my blades and impaled it in the chest. By the time I pushed the heavy corpse off my body, Pyrrha and Blake had already eliminated the other remaining five ursai.

 _Man I'm rusty. Better train more often._ "Nice job guys. Let's keep moving before it gets dark." The girls nodded in agreement as we continued to move north.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful as we only found two more groups of creatures before it got dark and we met up with the others at our temporary house in Hishan. The second I opened the door; I was greeted by the scent of venison. We were spread out across the first floor with some in the dining room and others seated in the living room, some of them on the couch and the rest on the floor.

Coco gave Jaune our report of the day's events and he nodded happily. It sounded like everyone else was fairly successful as well with construction now moving exponentially faster and the settlement's food stores quickly filling up after being near empty.

After three days of more scouting and more killing, the memories starting coming back in long recollections rather than just quick flashes. Velvet took notice of it after we duelled with a group of beowolves with an alpha at the head. The thought of having to face a tougher opponent with underlings as backup sent a long vision of the Omega stomping out of its den coursing through my mind.

My nerves froze as I backed up and tripped over a stone, causing me to fall flat on my ass as the wolf-grimm continued to advance on me. The alpha leapt at me but thankfully the girls had my back as Milo lodged itself in the beast's ribcage and Blake decapitated the creature with a single slash. Coco annihilated its underlings with a wide sweep of her gatling gun as shell casings fell to the forest ground. Once all were defeated, Velvet looked at me with a concerned look and helped me to my feet.

"You're done." She declared.

"What?" I replied.

"You're done. Get back to Hishan, go to the house and get some rest." She repeated as she turned her back to me and began walking away.

I followed her and began to object. "Velvet, I'm fine. I-"

She turned around in the blink of an eye and slapped me so hard the mask I wore flew off my face. I returned my gaze to Velvet's eyes and looked to her with sadness that I hoped was veiled.

She shook her head still bearing that same expression. "Joe, you're clearly not fine. You've been having flashbacks, haven't you?"

I gazed down at my feet. "That's what I thought." She then wrapped her arms around my neck and the building amount of stress finally came out as I returned the hug and cried into the crook of Velvet's neck, tears streaming down my face and onto her shoulder.

"I just- I just don't want to be useless." I managed to choke out between sobs.

"Joe, the only way you'd be useless is if you were dead. And if you continue denying the fact that you can't fight right now, that's **going** to happen." She released me from the embrace and I reluctantly let go. "For the good of your team, get some sleep and take a few days off if you need to."

I weakly nodded back and began to head towards Hishan before Velvet spoke again. "Pyrrha, can you make sure he gets there okay?" Nothing was said as the crimson-haired champion walked beside me and handed me my mask.

She escorted me to the house and headed back to presumably catch up with the rest of the group. After changing into my sleepwear I obeyed my girlfriend's orders and recuperated.

The next three days were rough as Velvet had apparently informed Jaune and Ruby of my condition and denied my every attempt to try and help out. I was frustrated that I couldn't assist but I couldn't get angry either. They were only trying to do what they thought was best for me. Thankfully though, Ruby took me along on a berry-picking trip and after hours of listening to the relaxing quiet of the birds chirping and the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees, I felt at peace.

That night, I slept unusually well and Jaune decided to allow me to help out with lifting the lumber needed to repair some of the houses. Casual work, that was all I needed, nothing too high stress or menial.

After the first week, I found myself with more strength than I arrived with and once the second week was over, any previous visions of the Omega could no longer enter my mind.

As we packed up our gear in the house, I shot Velvet an apologetic look. "Hey, I'm sorry I went a little overboard. I just didn't want everybody else doing the hard work while I sat around."

Before she could respond, I heard Jaune descend the stairs and interject. "I feel your pain Joe, but believe me when I say you **have** to follow other people's advice in those situations." He advised as Pyrrha smiled at him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"He just doesn't realize how much he's actually worth, Jaune." Velvet called. I gave her a sheepish smile and she returned it before leaning in for a kiss, the connection slow and sweet until we parted.

"I ever tell you how much I love you?" I asked sarcastically.

"Maybe once or twice, I haven't really been keeping track." She replied with a chuckle.

"Jeez, I think if I listened to every conversation you two had together I think I might actually puke my guts out." Yang added with a shake of her head as she headed out the door.

We merely smiled at each other and interlaced our fingers as we headed out to the pick-up point with the others. Soon enough, the airships arrived and we boarded, eager to get back to Beacon with one more mission under our belts.

I leaned my head up against the headrest of the seat and sighed happily as I continued to hold Velvet's hand. _One less thing to worry about._


	28. Summer!

_Why did they have to schedule Port's class as the final one for the day? Did one of the other first years do something to piss off Ozpin?_ I thought as the clock ticked down the last half hour before the exam break would begin and the summer vacation would follow. I looked at the clock behind me resting on the wall above the entryway as the pot-bellied Professor droned on about another 'exploit' of his. I looked back after it felt like twenty minutes passed and my mind nearly exploded from anger at the sight that only five minutes went by.

 _FUUUUUUUCK!_ I grabbed a handful of my hair and nearly pulled it from my skull as I held in a muffled shout of rage. Just about everyone else on the team was nearing sleep or already there. Jaune's eyelids were beginning to droop as he leaned forward in his seat while even his normally studious partner was having trouble stifling a yawn. Nora of course was already napping relatively quietly using her hands and forearms as a pillow with Ren fully awake taking the occasional note.

I glanced over at RWBY and sure enough, the only ones not sleeping were those who didn't share a blood relation with each other although Blake looked to be nearing the brink of sleep as she dipped her head before snapping it back towards the front of the class.

After an agonizing twenty-five minutes that felt like two hours, the dismissal bell rang and we all filed out of the room, but not before Port reminded us all that our finals would both be occurring this week.

Our combat portion of the exam would be taking place this Tuesday while the written part would be occurring on Thursday, which kind of didn't make much sense to me because if we were injured during the combat portion, then we'd be too focused on our wounds to write the other part.

While lost in my thoughts, I nearly missed the fact that a hand had attached itself to my own with its owner walking beside me.

"Hey cuddles." Velvet said as she leaned her head on my shoulder.

That was my favorite term of endearment and she knew it well. I started to blush and smiled. "Hey baby girl. How was history with Oobleck?"

"About as good as it can be. Trying to take notes while he's talking a mile an hour is impossible." She declared with a sigh. "How about grimm studies with Port, how did that go?"

I groaned in agony. "Imagine if time moved twenty times slower than it usually did and you could only move at the pace of a snail. That was basically the whole class in a nutshell."

"Yeah well, just think. After the finals, we'll have a whole two months to sit back and relax before it's back to the grindstone."

I grinned at the prospect of spending the summer with Velvet; going to summer carnivals, hitting the beach, maybe paying both of our families another visit and being lazy together.

"Can't wait." I declared as we made our way to the gym to get in a little more exercise before the combat final.

After getting in a good workout and hitting the showers, Velvet helped me with my hand-to-hand combat skills and taught me a few tips and tricks.

When the day came, I wasn't too worried. I just had to fight against a group of grimm holograms that were adjusted to a difficulty level Goodwitch deemed appropriate. Every student was tasked to fight for half an hour to test endurance, skill and their ability to gauge aura in dire situations.

I was in the last five minutes with sweat beading down my forehead, my breaths coming out fast and dry. I had discarded my black hoodie in the first ten minutes to slow the heat build-up, leaving me with my white t-shirt, armor, green combat mask and jeans. Three beowolf holograms stood before me, their simulated growls echoing in the air. One charged and I leapt over it's head in a horizontal roll, extending Castor's blade in mid-air so that it delved through the back of it's skull, causing it to fade away as I landed in front of the other two.

They ran at me at the same time and with Castor's blade still extended, I thrust it through the jaw of one beowolf, making it into a makeshift shield as its compatriot attempted to slash at me while I held it off. Then, as the corpse began to fade away, I shoulder charged the wolf-grimm, causing it to reel back while I planted one foot on it's hind leg and delivered a bone-crushing kick to its knee, immobilizing the limb. The holographic creature fell forward and I retracted the blade on my right gauntlet before unsheathing Dusk and rapidly slashing the beast's chest and finishing with a decapitation.

"Time!" Goodwitch called out. I breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed the sword with a flourish. "Very well done, Mr. Taren. Your grade will be posted shortly after the other Professors and myself have graded the written portion of your exam."

I nodded with a half-smile and retrieved my hoodie before exiting the area and unclasping my mask. Upon opening the doors to Beacon's hallway, I saw the rest of JNPR leaning against the empty wall. Being that I was an unusual case for the team, I was the last one to take the exam after Ren.

"So?" Jaune started with a grin. "How do you think you did?"

I shrugged. "Not bad. Although the written test is going to be a different story."

Come Thursday, the entire first-year population was packed into the amphitheater, which had been turned into the exam hall with desks neatly aligned in vertical and horizontal rows. The topics covered everything from grimm studies to history to study of aura.

I finished about half an hour before anyone was actually allowed to leave and thinking I had rushed through it, began to anxiously check my answers over and over again for any questions I might've overlooked.

"An hour and a half has passed, anyone who is finished may now leave the amphitheater." Goodwitch's voice echoed out.

I saw Weiss, Ren and Blake get up and leave while I nervously checked my test over one last time and put all the papers on the corner of my desk before departing. The grounds were occupied by a few other first-years and a couple second-years who decided to hang out rather than study. I sat on a bench and awaited my teammates to finish their tests before going back to the dorm, the warm sun slowly heating the air.

Next to emerge was Pyrrha, followed five minutes later by Nora and finally, Jaune. Ruby and her sister were close behind my team leader as they exited while Ren, Weiss and Blake regrouped as well.

"Everyone happy with how that went?" The little reaper asked.

Jaune said nothing, merely bit his lower lip and hung his head. Pyrrha's hand on his shoulder appeared to help ease his discomfort and she spoke. "I think I did rather well, and I know he did too."

"Easy." Weiss declared non-chalantly.

"Wasn't too difficult." Blake added.

"Not a problem." Ren piled on.

"I think I'd rather fight grimm. The silence in there is way too daunting." I chimed in.

Nora's eyes brightened up as if she had an idea. "They should play music over the loudspeakers while we work!"

Ren facepalmed. "Some students might find that distracting, Nora."

"It is a proven scientific fact that music helps you think!" She objected.

"How about you, Yang?" I asked. "How do you think you did?" I asked, ignoring the Ninja and Grenadier.

"Meh, who cares? But there is something I've been wanting to ask you guys."

"Oh yeah?" Jaune replied. "What's that?"

"Beach party, who's in?" The blonde brawler asked with a wide grin.

Ruby grinned back and raised both eyebrows, gleaming with excitement. "Who's invited?! Where exactly are we going?! What should we bring?!"

We chuckled at her enthusiasm as Yang answered her questions one at a time. "Anyone that wants to come, a beach that Ozpin's got reserved specifically for students on vacation and anything you can think of, Rubes."

"So does that mean I can bring Sun?" Blake asked.

"What about Neptune?" Weiss added.

"And Velvet?" I inquired.

"Yes, yes and yes." Yang responded with approval. I silently shouted with glee as Yang gave us the location of the beach along with a date and time.

I ran the idea by Velvet and she turned out to be just as excited as I was to spend our first day of summer vacation with friends. After we went shopping for swimwear, which Velvet declined to let me see as she thought it would be better as a surprise, we waited for Saturday to arrive before heading out.

Friday passed by incredibly quickly and we met with RWBY along with JNPR as well as half of SSSN at ten in the morning, as scheduled. All the guys appeared already dressed in their swim trunks; Jaune wearing a solid white pair with his family crest adorning the left leg with a matching t-shirt, Ren wearing green with vertical pink stripes and a solid green long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to match, Sun clad in yellow with his last name written in dark orange over the right thigh and his usual white open-ended shirt, his partner wearing a pair of plain dark blue swim shorts and his red jacket with myself clothed in a pair of cyan trunks and a purple t-shirt.

The girls were wearing their usual day-to-day attire but all appeared to have their swimwear in handbags at their side.

As my dad dropped us off in the parking lot and we approached the group, I noticed that the one who orchestrated the whole event wasn't present.

"Yang's just getting some last minute supplies." Ruby declared as she held her little corgi, Zwei I think his name was. "She took Bumblebee into downtown Vale but she'll be back soon."

"Ah." I replied. "How's it going, cousin?"

He shrugged as he leaned up against his yellow convertible with his arm around Blake's shoulders with her cat ears exposed to the air. "Never better, especially since she's here." Sun replied, his faunus girlfriend flashing him a quick smile.

"What's all that?" I asked, gesturing to the large amount of random beach entertainment gear beside Sun's car.

"Everything and anything we might need for today." Jaune responded. I scanned the pile and realized he was right. A volleyball net, ball and scoring card, sand castle building supplies, Frisbee, cooler presumably stocked with refreshments, a few fold-out plastic chairs, literally a dozen beach blankets and even a mini-barbecue set.

"Just put your towels in the back of the car for now and you can come and get 'em later." Sun said. Velvet and myself complied and passed the next two minutes with idle conversation among our group before Yang arrived with one hand on the throttle of her motorcycle and the other clutching a plastic bag. She rolled up, put the kickstand down and placed the bag in the cooler.

"The burgers and buns. The only things I forgot." She explained with a sheepish grin. "Now let's get this party started!"

With a unanimous cheer from all of us, we headed down to the white sand and crystal clear water where Sun and myself set up the volleyball net while Jaune organized everything, Ren prepared the barbecue, Neptune set out the blankets and the girls changed while Zwei zipped around our feet, our shirts discarded in the pile Jaune was trying to sort.

"No, Sun, you gotta pull it tight!" I yelled at my cousin.

"I'm tryin'! Zwei, get outta the way, buddy!" He scolded the little dog who only circled his feet faster.

"Jaune, a little help here please?"

My team leader looked around and grabbed the Frisbee, causing Zwei to immediately stop and look at the green disc. "You want the Frisbee?" He asked the little dog, who only barked in response. "Go get the Frisbee!" He shouted, tossing it down the long beach as the corgi moved as fast as his little feet could carry him.

I thanked my leader and Jaune nodded back as we finished setting up the net. "Alright, that about does it. How's the barbecue coming along, Ren?" Sun inquired.

"Ready to be used." He announced with pleasure.

"Sweet. Neptune, all good, buddy?" I asked my fellow blue-haired man.

"All set. Feel free to move them around as you want."

"Cool." Jaune declared. "What do we want to do first?"

Sun's eyes suddenly glazed over and his jaw opened slightly. Confused, I waved a hand in front of his eyes but he didn't even blink. "You okay?"

"I-uh-bwuh…" He gibbered out.

"Use your words." Ren advised as he made some last minute touches on the barbecue set.

He continued to say nothing, only pointed behind the rest of us and we turned to see the girls dressed in their swimsuits and proceeded to follow mimic Sun's state of astonishment. Out of the corner of my eye I even saw the normally stoic Ren do a double take as he looked up from his mini cooking station and towards the girls.

They were, in every meaning of the word, gorgeous. But none compared to Velvet. I didn't know whether it was the fact that she was my girlfriend that I always thought her more beautiful than any other woman or what, but I didn't really care. Clad in a dark brown two-piece bikini with the top partially showing off her assets and her perfect hourglass figure, secured under her arms as well as over her shoulders behind her back and the bottom at either side of her waist, I was at a complete loss for words as she approached with a slight hip sway and a light blush on her face.

"Uh, Joe, c-could you please not stare?"

I shook my head to get back to Remnant and gave my angelic girlfriend an apologetic look. "R-right uh, sorry." I looked to her eyes and noticed that she appeared to be leering at me a little bit as well, her gaze fixated on my arms and chest I worked out on a weekly basis. It made me feel good, knowing that I was attractive to her and was about to flex when Sun smacked the back of my head. Hard.

After giving him a glare, I looked to see what the rest were wearing and Yang was clad in a stark white bikini similar to Velvet's that showed as much cleavage as I'd expected from the blonde brawler, the only difference being that instead of the bottom being secured by string, two metal hoop rings tied the ends together.

Pyrrha also wore a crimson red bikini that matched her hair nicely with the sash that usually accompanied her combat gear now tied to her right hip, definitely catching Jaune's eye as I could see he still hadn't removed his gaze from his partner since Sun pointed out their approach.

Nora wore a slightly more conservative swimsuit, the bottom more resembling short shorts with a normal bikini top, all pink with light green polka dots, likely an attempt to catch her boyfriend's eye which I think she succeeded immensely in.

Ruby was wearing an interesting dark red swimsuit in that I wasn't sure whether to classify it as a one-piece or two-piece due to the fact that the top resembled a less conservative sports bra and the bottom, like Nora's, resembled short shorts with the two pieces connected by a black fishnet, exposing her midriff.

Ignoring the debate in my mind, I moved onto Weiss clad in a light blue bikini with a small corsage-like flower over the right shoulder bearing the SDC logo. She appeared just as flushed as her boyfriend, a touch of red on both their faces.

Blake was last, wearing a black (what else?) triangle top bikini, covering her underarms a little more than the others with a classic bikini bottom. While a little more conservative, it apparently still had the effect of sending Sun into a state of unintelligible words.

Zwei broke the silence that formed by planting the Frisbee in front of Ruby and barking, presumably wanting for her to throw it.

"I see you guys got the net set up." Yang pointed out with a hand on her hip. "Shall we play a game?"

Jaune recovered from his stupor after Sun and myself and nodded. "Yeah, let's do it."

The rest of them finally came back after their gawking session at the other sex and followed behind the blondes. Yang picked up the ball and tossed it experimentally. "So how're we gonna' do this?"

"Someone's going to have to keep score." Weiss pointed out.

Blake's hand immediately shot up. "I'll do it. That way I can read as well."

Ruby nodded. "Good. As for teams?"

"How about the leaders as captains?" I offered.

Sun chuckled and stepped forward. "I'm glad you think so highly of me, Joe."

"Not you." I scolded, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back in line with the rest of us. "Ruby and Jaune. You guys take turns picking whoever among the eight of us."

They both nodded in agreement and Yang tossed the ball to her sister before stepping back in line.

"Rock paper scissors for who goes first?" Jaune asked, to which Ruby held her hand out in a fist in reply. The little reaper won and chose her sister first.

"Pyrrha." Jaune replied.

"Nora." Ruby quipped back.

"Sun." My cousin high-fived his fellow blond as he stood beside him.

"Neptune." The trident-wielder nodded and rubbed his hands together in excitement.

"Velvet."

"Ren."

It was down to Weiss and myself. I looked to Jaune and shot him a pleading look. I wanted to be on Velvet's side so bad, but he shook his head with a grimace. "Weiss."

I sighed and began walking over to Ruby's team. I heard Yang scoff. "Aw come on, Blay-boy. We're gonna kick some Jaune Arc ass."

I smirked and shook my head before pointing to Velvet. "It's **her** I'm worried about."

"Alright, before we start, I think we should have one person off on each team so that it's four-on-four." Blake advised from the sideline, sitting in one of the fold-out chairs.

"I volunteer." I declared with a raised hand, stepping off the court.

"Same." Sun said, mimicking my actions.

Ruby tossed the ball underneath the net at Jaune. "You guys serve first since I won rock paper scissors."

My cousin and I sat on either side of Blake as Zwei trotted up to me. "So why'd you want to be on Velvet's team?" Blake asked as I absentmindedly pet the corgi.

I chuckled lightly. "'Cause I've been on her bad side once and I'd really rather not repeat that incident."

"She competitive?" Sun asked.

"Dear sweet Oum, I hope not."

Unfortunately, as the ball was served over the net and Neptune set up a perfect spike for Nora, the Grenadier hit it as hard as she could and it landed it the sand at high-velocity, creating a small crater.

"What was that, Jaune?!" Velvet shouted. "You could've easily gotten that!"

I groaned and gestured to my girlfriend while looking at the faunus couple. "I'm screwed."

I swapped out with Neptune and Sun switched for Jaune. With myself and Yang closest to the net on our team with Velvet and Weiss facing us down on the opposing team, my girlfriend shot me a glare as Pyrrha called out her serve. It went behind me and Ren set it simply to gain control as Nora set it again and called for me to get it. With my forearms, I sent it to the other side of the net and Weiss easily set up a spike for Velvet. She hit it but I barely managed to catch it after doing a mid-air set, leaving Yang to retaliate. Again, there was a spike and again, there was a set followed by another spike. The ball rebounded off my head with a dull _thud_ while I was still trying to scramble to my feet.

A cheer rang out from the other side while Ren grasped my forearm and helped me to my feet. After a few points and swap outs later, the score was tied at thirteen-thirteen. With Jaune out due to basic exhaustion and Ruby just taking a break to hang out with Zwei, tensions were high on either side.

"Hup!" Sun called out as the ball flew over my head to a waiting Yang who sent it flying upwards. I set it towards Nora and she hit it with as much force she could muster without her hammer, just barely out of Weiss' reach.

After a round of high-fives for Nora, I could practically feel the malice in Velvet's eyes as she glared at me. "For the win!" Blake called out.

"Let's go guys, you got this!" Jaune cheered his team on.

"Show 'em who's boss, everyone!" Ruby replied.

I breathed out as calmly as I could and served the ball towards Weiss who I had hoped wouldn't be able to get to it fast enough. The Heiress managed to hit it, giving Pyrrha the prime opportunity for a set to Sun, who then spiked it at Ren, who was unprepared for the surprising amount of force behind the hit and ended up sending the ball to the side of my head before it landed in the sand.

"Fourteen to fourteen, next point wins!"

I shook my head to regain my bearings and looked at my teammates. Yang and Nora were out for blood, but then again, I think Velvet and Sun were as well.

Ren tossed the ball to Weiss, who then relayed it back to Pyrrha. With the heat catching up with me, sweat formed freely on my brow and dripped into my eyes.

The crimson-haired champion tossed the ball into the air, reared her arm back and slammed it forward, overtop of the net, directly into Ren's waiting forearms, sending it upward, leaving me to set it over to Yang, who then spiked it downwards at Sun, who took a dive, setting it towards Velvet who leapt into the air the same instant I did on the other side of the net in an attempt to block her hit.

Time seemed to slow as my eyes widened and she let out a shout of aggression towards the ball with a devastating spike directly to my head before it landed in the sand.

"That's fifteen for Jaune's team, they win!" Blake announced as I lay on my back, trying to stop my head from spinning. Eventually I sat up to see Jaune and Pyrrha embracing each other with wide grins while the others gave a round of high-fives.

Yang gave me a hand to my feet while Velvet strode over to our side with a wide smirk. "Did I forget to mention that the loser has to buy dinner?" She addressed me.

I smirked back with folded arms. "You did, but I may or may not have already made plans for tonight."

She chuckled, bringing a smile to my face as I noticed her hair was matted with sweat as mine was and brushed a strand out of her eyes, marveling the glorious brown irises that shone brightly in the morning sun.

"Anybody hungry?" Nora asked.

"How about we go swimming first, then eat?" Jaune offered. I looked back and Velvet with a sly grin.

"Last one in owes the other a back massage." I declared before zipping off towards the water.

"No fair!" She called back as I ran.

She managed to catch up and tripped me with her own foot, sending me face first into the sand. I quickly got up and just as she was about to wet her feet, tackle-hugged her, taking the brunt of the fall as my back made contact with the warm water. We both came up sputtering for air and I broke into a grin while she scowled. "I win."

"You cheated." Velvet replied.

"So did you." I countered.

She sighed, put her hands on hips and eventually broke into a smile. "You can really be a pain in the ass when you want to."

I shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm **your** pain the ass." She shook her head back and waded further into the water until she was waist deep while I floated on my back, slowly drifting towards her as the rest of our friends joined us, save for Neptune and Blake who were rather averse to the water.

After just a couple words from Weiss however, she was able to coerce her boyfriend into going at least shin deep. As we washed off the sweat from our intense game, it didn't take long for Nora to start the horseplay wagon going as she clambered on Ren's shoulders and pointed at Ruby, ordering her partner to attack without mercy. The little reaper got on Yang's shoulders and the four began chicken fights, accidentally bumping into Sun who then fell into the water and retaliated by shoving Yang over, causing a chain reaction that got everybody else involved in splashing around the water.

As soon as Velvet got involved, she immediately interrupted my peaceful floating by pushing me down into the water. After recovering, I gave her a look of warning. "You sure you want to do this?"

She said nothing, merely held a finger out and gestured for me to bring it. I activated my semblance, extended my arms as far as they would go just underneath the water and pushed, creating a small tidal wave that caused more than a little collateral damage.

As I shrank down to my normal size, the only thing I could see for a second was Blake laughing in her chair on the beach. One by one though, my friend's heads popped up and Velvet was last, more than a little angry.  
"Was that really necessary?" She asked in a calm, yet threatening tone.

I could only shrug. "You wanted me to bring it, and I think I did just that."

"Yeah, a little too well, Joe!" Yang shouted, wringing out her golden locks. While I was distracted by conversing with Yang, Velvet pushed me over once more and walked back to the beach.

I came back up for air and followed behind with a wide smile as Sun walked back to his car, grabbed everyone's beach towels and handed them out to us as Ren fired up the barbecue and began grilling the burgers.

The sun shone directly in my eyes and Velvet noticed as I winced. "Did you remember to put on sunscreen?"

"No. I guess it would've been a good idea though, right?"

She rolled her eyes, got up and foraged through her bag for the bottle and handed it to me. "You get your chest, stomach and arms, I'll get your back, legs and shoulders."

I squirted the gel onto my hands and rubbed them together before applying it to the areas Velvet indicated. As I lay on my stomach with Velvet straddling my lower back as she applied the sunscreen, her hands ran across a sensitive area of my spine and I unconsciously let out a slightly pained groan. I felt her hands fly away from my body as I bit my lip.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just…well… my back's been sore for a while now."

She let out a light laugh. "So that's why you wanted that massage." I felt a little more heat rush to my cheeks.

"Yeah…" I trailed off.

"Okay, breath in as much as you can." She calmly ordered. I complied, lungs filled to capacity. "And a little more." I was unsure, but didn't question it as I breathed in again, feeling like my interior air pockets were going to explode. "Now breath out slowly."

I did so and felt her palms press down on the sensitive are, cracking my spine and relieving an unbelievable amount of tension. I lay there with the right side of my head on the blanket and the other half to the sky in sheer bliss.

"Where did you learn that?"

I felt her thighs remove themselves from my sides as she got up. "Saw Coco do it to Fox once after he was complaining about back pains. Seemed to work for him, so I figure I'd try it on you." She declared as I rolled over. Velvet applied another squirt of sunscreen to her hands and tapped me on the nose. "Boop."

I chuckled with a wide smile. "You've been spending too much time around Nora." She giggled back and applied the sunscreen to my face as well before declaring she was done.

After thanking her, I sat on the towel with a knee to my chest as Velvet put more lotion on her hands.

I gave her a confused look and raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you put on sunscreen beforehand?"

She shook her head with a smile as her hands ran over her arms and chest. "Nope, just didn't want you to call me out on it first." She thrust the bottle towards me and lie down. I put the lotion on my hands and mimicked her movements as she had done for me. As my fingers brushed against her lower ribcage, her back arched slightly and she let out a muffled ' _meep'_.

I grinned to myself. "Is somebody ticklish?" I asked in an overly astonished voice.

"N-no! It-it's just a scar, still hurts." She denied.

I inspected the skin on either side carefully. "Really? I'm not seeing any marks." I stated.

"M-maybe it healed." She said nervously.

"Well, I think that somebody's…" My hands hovered over her sides. "Ticklish!" I shouted, attacking her ribs without mercy as she rolled over and began to laugh uncontrollably, trying to cease my siege.

"J-Joe!" She chuckled out. "S-s-stop!"

"Never!" I declared, continuing my assault as tears of mirth welled up in her eyes. With a fierce slap to both my forearms, she managed to get my arms away from her ribs and quickly wrapped them behind my neck, pulling me in for a kiss.

Long, sweet, electric and perfect, the connection was supreme in every way. Velvet smiled as she pulled away, using her hands linked behind my neck to hold her off the towel while looking at me. "Tell anyone I'm ticklish there and I'll kill you."

I grinned back. "Secret's safe with me, baby girl." I declared, using the term of endearment I know she loved the most.

She let out a long breath and fell back on the blanket. "Better be. Otherwise Chris and Kay would have a field day."

The idea of telling her siblings about the sensitive spot hadn't popped into my head until she mentioned it, but I decided against it. It brought me great pride in knowing that I was the only one who could make her laugh like that.

"Lunch is ready!" Ruby shouted. After helping Velvet to her feet with a gentle hand, we walked over to the lunch site as Ren handed out the perfectly grilled meat onto the buns we carried.

Yang then opened the cooler, which was not only stocked with refreshments, but also every condiment you could think of. Thankfully, one of the sisters had also packed barbecue sauce and I slathered some on along with ketchup as Sun gave me a look of disgust.

"Whu?" I asked with my mouth full.

"Ketchup **and** barbecue sauce?" He asked in disbelief.

I swallowed before answering. "Not a fan of lettuce or pickles or anything else." I declared.

"You're strange." Nora chimed in.

"Thought you would've figured that out by now." I countered with a smile.

As we ate in relative quiet with the only topic being what everyone's plans were for the summer which unfortunately for all of us involved Sun and Neptune having to go back to Mistral, a newcomer wearing a pair of dark red swim shorts the same color as Ruby's swimsuit and a similarly colored cloak had Ruby and Yang screeching with glee.

"UNCLE QROW!" The little reaper yelled as she attached herself to the jet-black haired man's arm.

"Hey kiddo." He replied in a deep, gravelly voice as he wrapped his other arm around Yang who embraced him.

"What are you doing here?" The blonde brawler asked.

"Well, this may come as a surprise to you guys but even us teachers have a life." He replied sarcastically.

"Uncle?'" Jaune asked.

"Oh right." Ruby said as she let go of the man's arm. "Guys, this is our uncle Qrow, Qrow, these are our friends."

He gave our group a single nod as we waved. "So what are you doing here?" Yang inquired.

"Meh, figured I'd see how you guys were doing and maybe see if I could get a lifeguard's number."

"Of course." She replied with a shake of her head.

After that short interruption, we returned to our lunch while Ruby and Yang's uncle sat in the sand and pulled out a flask of some sort of alcohol from his shorts.

Soon enough, Nora had the urge to be 'Queen of the Castle' and proceeded to make a sand-fort as large as she could with Ren, Ruby and Jaune's help while Blake read her book, Weiss and Sun tried to teach Neptune how to swim, Yang played with Zwei while Velvet and myself merely lay next to each other on adjacent beach towels and talk.

"So hypothetically…" I started. "You could teleport to anywhere in the world, but every time you did, you'd have to stay on that piece of land within a three kilometer radius for a whole month. Would you want to?"

Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Velvet shake her head. "No, I don't think I could. I like to go out and roam so staying in one relatively small place for a whole month would just be torture."

I nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I guess it would be kind of confining. Now it's your turn. Ask me anything you want"

"Okay." She hummed in thought for a moment and I thought I saw here cheeks grow redder. "Hypothetically…if you were a father, would you want a son or a daughter?"

I turned my head to the left to see that yes, Velvet was indeed blushing.

I chuckled and interlaced her fingers with my own. "As long as they were our son or daughter, it really wouldn't matter to me. Why? Which would you want?"

She smiled at me and gripped my hand a little tighter. "Does it really matter?"

I smiled back. "No, not really."

We passed the next few hours by swimming, playing another game of volleyball, this time with Qrow on Ruby's team and myself on Jaune's which ended with the huntsman completely kicking our asses practically by himself, a pizza dinner that Sun so graciously paid for and brought down to the beach after leaving in his car and gazing at the sun setting over the water, casting an orange flame over the surface.

Almost everybody had left; the only ones still at the beach being Velvet, myself, Sun, Blake, Neptune and Weiss. We sat on our towels that were moved beside Nora's six-foot tall sand fort with her head on my shoulder; Velvet wearing the hoodie I'd given her as a cover-up as I donned my shirt once more.

"I think it was a pretty great start to the vacation, wouldn't you say so?" I whispered, trying so desperately not to crack the delicate quiet that blanketed the air.

"Agreed. A day with the person I love most in the world and a few friends? What's not to like?"

"Even if I **did** find your ticklish spot?" I teased, grazing my fingers against her ribs.

She let out a light giggle and playfully slapped the hand away. "Yes, even then."

Another silence fell as we heard Sun and his partner reluctantly part ways with their girlfriends for now and drive off. Half the sun dipped over the horizon before I heard my favorite four words from my favorite person in the world.

"I love you, Joe."

"I love you too, Velvet." I whispered back with a kiss to her temple.


	29. Back to School

(AN: No, i didn't almost forget to upload the newest chapter, what are you talking about?)

To say that was the best summer of my life would be the understatement of the century.

Velvet and I may have gotten into a few heated argument but in the end, we always came back together stronger than ever. I celebrated my eighteenth birthday with my girlfriend and her team while mine was otherwise occupied and unfortunately couldn't make it. We paid her family another visit, and it was a genuine pleasure to see them all again. Chris decided it would be a good idea to get his dad and myself into a drinking competition between the three of us to see who was the lightweight of the group because according to his logic; 'Every group has one!' Originally, the idea was shot down immediately by his dad and me, but after lien came involved, the winner being awarded a hundred lien out of Chris' pocket, we foolishly jumped in and threw back our own choice drinks at the bar Fallow had first taken me.

This time, instead of trying to assist me when I got home hammered, Velvet threw her hands in the air and let her mom record Fallow, Chris and myself come crashing through the front door singing bad country songs at the top of our lungs. Worst hangover of my life, but at least it was a bonding experience as well.

At my parent's house, we decided to just be lazy together and watch movies with the occasional gaming marathon. In Vale, we bumped into Jaune and Pyrrha, who had to conceal her appearance because of the paparazzi. Seeing her in a blonde wig was certainly the oddest sight I've ever seen but it also gave me a little insight as to what their daughter might look like if they had one. Turns out that they had taken their relationship one step further and asked if we'd gotten past second base yet but we both comfortably answered 'no'. Our relationship was moving at the pace just as we wanted it to.

The last two weeks of our vacation were spent away from each other as Velvet had to attend her brother's acceptance ceremony into the Vacuan army.

Today was the thirtieth, which meant just one more day until I'd get to see her again. But until then, I'd have to settle for calling her daily and holding the chain around my neck with Velvet's symbol engraved on the stone.

"You miss her?" Dad asked as we moved through the mall, shopping for school supplies.

I scoffed at the question. "Do you miss mom every time you're away from her?" Dad just gave me a smile and grabbed a few binders and sheets of paper.

We acquired the last of the supplies and headed back towards the car in the heated parking lot. "So you're going to study more this year, right?" He asked, taking the driver's side.

I nodded with a sheepish half-smile. "Yeah, might be a good idea. Sixty percent isn't exactly the best mark."

"You're just lucky you got…what? Around seventy-eight percent on the combat portion?"

"Something like that, yeah." I affirmed.

We got in the car and he started it up. "You know, just because you want to follow in Cass' footsteps doesn't exactly mean you have to have his intelligence as well."

I heaved a sigh of frustration and dad chuckled as he pulled out of the parking lot, making our way back home.

That night, I found sleep continuing to elude me as my gazed constantly shifted from the necklace on my nightstand to the clock beside it. Velvet and time were the only two things on my mind but I must've tired myself out thinking about them as my eyelids eventually closed and fell into unconsciousness.

In the morning, I couldn't have moved faster as I zipped into the shower, changed into a clean dark blue t-shirt with my emblem over the heart that Velvet gifted me on my birthday during the summer and a pair of jeans before eating breakfast, telling my parents that I would be waiting at the airport for Velvet's plane and borrowed dad's car.

I parked and waited at the arrivals area for what seemed like three hours until I heard her voice and saw her running towards me clad in her usual light brown t-shirt and jeans. I grinned, opened my arms and she literally leapt into them, wrapping all appendages around me as I buried my face in the crook of her neck.

"Two weeks is way too long, baby girl." I declared.

"It **did** seem a lot longer without you, cuddles." She replied. Eventually we released each other and I grabbed her luggage from the carousel before heading out to the car.

"So? How did it go? Was Chris happy?" I asked, slamming the trunk closed.

She chuckled back and opened the passenger side door. "He certainly was but mom wasn't exactly excited."

I nodded with a grimace. "Ah, that's right. Overprotective mom syndrome." I said, remembering the matriarch's constant worrying over her kids as I started up the car. "So anything new with the rest of the family?"

She hummed in thought. "Well, Kay's dating this really nice guy."

"Oh yeah? What's his name?"

"Frank." She went into further details as we drove back to my parent's house where Velvet would spend the night and we'd get our new schedules at Beacon the next day.

As usual, my parents were more than happy to house my girlfriend for the night as we lay in the same bed that night and slept comfortably. I let her have the shower the next morning and had my breakfast in the meantime before changing and taking my weapons and armor with me. We boarded the airship, departed for Beacon, went to the administrative office and received our new list of classes before regrouping with our individual teams, cleaning out our dorms and placing our equipment in the lockers.

"You guys have a good summer?" I addressed the team dressed in their normal day-to-day/combat attire as we walked along the empty grounds.

Nora spoke up first. "It was awesome! Me and Renny went to the carnival, I got him a huge stuffed animal and we ate a lot of cotton candy!"

The memory apparently made Ren shudder and I raised an eyebrow. "So you had to deal with a sugar-high Nora?"

He nodded back slowly. "Never again."

Nora began to pout and he sighed. "Not that much **sugar** again. Carnivals I have no problem with though." Ren reiterated, bringing the smile back to his girlfriend's face.

"How about you?" Jaune inquired. "How was your summer?" I regaled him with the events Velvet and myself took part in during the vacation and he nodded back.

"So fairly uneventful?" Pyrrha summed up.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I didn't have a problem with it though." Jaune opened his mouth to say something when Professor Ozpin's familiar voice cut him off, giving a group of first-year students the same speech we heard on our first day.

Intrigued, we investigated and saw the new group of huntsmen and huntresses-in training standing on the platforms, ready to be launched into the Emerald Forest. One by one, they flew into the air and I started to snicker, the laugh eventually turning into loud guffaws as the final student was fired into the air.

The rest of the team looked at my like I was insane and upon recovering from my mirth, I wiped away a tear of laughter and looked back. "It's so much funnier to watch when it's not you." Slowly, they all began to follow my lead of laughter aside from Ren who just gave a small smirk.

Ozpin heard our laughs and turned to face us with a smile of his own. "Ah, team JNPR. How good to see you again. I trust you are looking forward to spending your second year here?"

"Absolutely sir." Jaune replied as the rest of us silently agreed with a nod. "This place is our home away from home and I don't think I'd rather be anywhere else."

"That's good to hear. The rest of the day is yours to spend as you wish. Regular classes will begin tomorrow."

"Looking forward to it, Professor." Our leader declared. Ozpin smiled back and continued to look out towards the forest with Goodwitch at his side.

I spent most of the day trying to re-familiarize myself with the school grounds while the rest of the team was off doing their own individual thing.

Just after five in the afternoon, I received a text from Velvet asking me to meet her by the cliffs. As I exited the gym after looking around, I complied with her request and was greeted by the sight of Velvet sitting on a picnic blanket with a wicker basket illuminated by half a dozen candles.

"I didn't forget anything, did I?" I asked, probing my mind for any special occasions that might've slipped my mind.

She just laughed and shook her head. "No, you didn't forget anything. I just thought this might be a nice way to start our new school year."

I heaved a relieved sigh and sat next to her as she opened the basket and produced a full meal featuring spaghetti, roasted vegetables, and a plate of homemade brownies.

I patted my stomach contently and wiped my face with a napkin. "Did you make those?"

She smirked slightly. "Your mom helped me."

 _Of course she did._ I thought with a laugh. We then watched the sun set and the shattered moon rise, bathing us in its dull glow.

The silence was interrupted by the quiet buzz of a bullhead's engines. I looked towards the docks and sure enough, a few looked to be coming in for a landing.

"Who do you think that is?" I asked, gesturing to the aircraft.

Velvet shrugged. "Exchange students?" She offered.

"So early in the year and this late in the day?" We watched further as they closed in and the doors opened to reveal several soldiers clad in the White Fang uniform jump out, rifles in hand.

My eyes widened and I immediately yanked my scroll out of my jeans, sent the locker with my gear to my location and called Jaune before taking cover alongside Velvet while she called her team leader.

"Jaune! The White Fang is here with weapons and I don't think they want to talk peacefully. Get a hold of Ozpin, Ruby and whoever else you can and arm up." I warned as the rocket-propelled locker slammed into the soft earth beside our picnic site. Fortunately, the soldiers that leapt off the aircraft still hadn't noticed us yet but more bullheads were on their way. I retrieved my equipment and strapped it all on, the mask, gauntlets, armor and Dusk.

My scroll buzzed and Ozpin's face appeared on the display. I hit 'accept call' and the Headmaster spoke. "Attention all second, third and fourth-year students, Beacon Academy is under attack and long range communications are jammed! First year students are hereby ordered to take shelter wherever possible while we try to reach the Atlesian military. Use non-lethal means on all non-grimm combatants." He ordered sternly. I looked to Velvet with worried eyes and she nodded back with determination. Her locker landed beside mine and she grabbed her camera, ready for combat.

"Let's get to work." She declared, moving out from the small group of trees where we hid. Rage boiled in my blood as the thought of the White Fang trying to siege Beacon came to a reality.

But I wasn't going to let that happen. These criminals weren't going to take what I loved. We sprinted out from cover and rushed the five troops formed up in a plus formation, who fired on sight. I unsheathed Dusk and managed to block the shots that were meant for me while Velvet used me as a ramp and leapt from the ground, to my shoulders and towards the aggressors. She took down the one she landed on with a shoulder to the head and swept out the legs from underneath the one to his left as the other on the opposite side attempted to hit her with the butt of his weapon. She then proceeded to seize his wrist, slam her elbow down on the joint thus breaking his arm, grabbed the gun and delivering a brutal smash to the rear guard's skull, knocking him unconscious. The final one didn't stand a chance as he was torn between focusing on Velvet behind him or myself approaching with blades extended in front. In the end, Velvet simply punched him in the gut, causing him to keel forward as she slammed his face onto her knee.

My scroll went off again but I wasn't able to answer it when Ozpin's voice emanated from the device. "Teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY are ordered to regroup in front of the amphitheatre immediately!"

As my girlfriend and I made our way to the designated area, I could hear multiple gunshots ringing out along with more than a few roars. We closed in and saw our teams fighting off both the White Fang and the creatures of grimm, both sides apparently focused on the sole objective of destroying Beacon and its affiliated personnel.

With the help of my semblance, I rushed in and assisted my teammates in the elimination of grimm while CFVY and RWBY focused on the White Fang. A beowolf tried to get the jump on Ren but I tackled the wolf-grimm mid-air, causing us both to roll a few feet away.

It got on the hind legs, roared and I was tempted to roar back as if to say; 'This is my home. These are my friends. You and your allies **will** die here.' Instead, I thrust Pollux's blade through its gut, raised its body in the air and with Castor, decapitated it before letting the corpse drop to the ground.

Another of its comrades attempted to chew on my stomach as the beowolf opened its maw and moved to close its jaws around my mid-section. I saw the blow coming however and delivered a downward strike to its temple with Castor before extending the blade, going straight through the skull and emerging on the opposite side. I wasn't fully aware of my surroundings however and an ursa managed to get the jump on me, pushing my back against the stone and pinning my legs to the ground with its own.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I fought for survival, the monstrous bear-grimm repeatedly gnashing at my throat at clawing for my face. I knew I wasn't going to be able to move my legs no matter how hard I fought so I resorted to focusing on the head of the creature. I couldn't extend my blades to slit the throat due to the insufficient amount of room otherwise I'd end up slashing my own arms but perhaps… yeah, that could work.

I blocked the next two bites and as the bear-grimm opened its mouth once more, grabbed the upper and lower jaw, pushing them both in opposite directions. I heard a low, continuous rumble emanate from my opponent, becoming increasingly high-pitched until with a final push, I separated the two halves of its head, causing instantaneous death while veins, tendons and blood exhibited themselves from the beast's mouth.

Feeling the pressure leave my legs and blood flow return, I shoved the corpse off my form, deactivated my semblance and stood as the rest of my friends and teammates finished off the last of the aggressors.

"Why is this happening?!" Ruby cried out as she reloaded Crescent Rose. "What are the White Fang doing here and why are the grimm helping them?!"

We all looked around helplessly for an answer, only for silence to answer while I noticed that Blake looked to be more distressed than the rest of us.

Three scroll ring tones pierced the momentary quiet and Coco, Ruby and Jaune pulled the devices out of their respective outfits and were unable to answer them as Professor Ozpin's authoritative voice echoed throughout the area.

"The three of you are the leaders of the three strongest and most versatile teams at Beacon at the moment which is why I need all of you to listen and listen well." He said quickly. I looked towards the massive clock tower where Ozpin's office was and saw the headmaster on his scroll looking down at us from his office window.

"You are to make your way to the CCT, climb the stairs to the top floor, insert any of your scrolls into the main terminal so that we may send a message to the Atlesian military requesting their assistance."

"So anyone's scroll will send the message?" Jaune asked.

"Yes. Only **one** of you needs to make it to that terminal to manually disable the virus jamming communications and send the request." He replied. "Myself and the other Professors must stay back to protect a valuable asset within my office."

"Understood Oz. We'll get it done." Coco declared as she hung up, her other fellow team leaders following suit.

The thirteen of us made to move for the CCT, but several bullheads dropped multiple grimm and White Fang squads in our path, forcing us to fight through them. After the engagement, Jaune sheathed his sword and shook his head as I retracted my blades after dealing with yet another Alpha beowolf.

"This isn't going to work. Some of us are going to have to stay back and hold them here while the rest of us get to the tower."

"I volunteer." A deep voice belonging to a certain human giant declared, unsheathing his greatsword. "No one will pass."

"Then I'm staying too." Coco announced. Yatsu opened his mouth, but his leader cut him off. "I'm not going to run the risk of you getting injured with no one else around."

Yatsu nodded and Fox stepped forth with a smirk. "A team stays together." Was all he said.

Velvet then looked at her team, then to me, then back to her team. I knew what she was thinking. I meant a lot to her, but she wasn't going to let her teammates fight while she ran either. She stepped in front of me, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me on the lips, the connection electrifying the air around us and lasting for what seemed like forever with an underlying question hidden inside. _Please come back?_

I leaned deeper into the blissful connection to answer. _Count on it._ We separated and tears were present in both our eyes as she cupped my cheek with a silky soft hand. I clutched it and pressed my forehead to hers before Jaune's voice cut through the silence. "Joe, we have to go **now**." I gave my girlfriend one last smile and walked backwards for a second before breaking away from her gaze and turning into a run alongside RWBY and my teammates.

Shortly after leaving CFVY behind however, we had to stop for yet another fight as more White Fang and grimm blocked our passage. A dozen soldiers, four beowolves, three ursai and eight creeps stood in our way. We charged with Jaune and Ruby at the lead, the little Reaper using Crescent Rose to cut down the beowolves while the rest of her team dealt with the rest of the wolf-grimm and the ursai.

Jaune and his partner formed a shield-wall, moving forward as they took bullets meant for the rest of us when Ren and Nora broke off to annihilate the lizard bipeds that threatened to flank us.

When I thought their shields were close enough to our opponents, I leapt over them and using my body weight, sent two men's heads to the concrete. The crimson-haired champion and her partner carefully fought off two other soldiers each, leaving the remaining six for me. They all stood in front of me and quickly switched from their rifles to swords and immediately began to strike.

One attempted a simple thrust to the heart and I countered by ducking followed by an uppercut to the elbow and a fist to the throat. Two more attacked at the same time, both with downward slashes but I blocked both, holding their blades a few inches above my shoulders before shoving them away and striking the man to my left. With an elbow to the cheek, he spun around in a one-eighty and I grabbed the rifle on his back, firing two shots at the man who also attempted an attack; one to the knee and the other at his stomach which were sure to knock out, but not kill. Grabbing the barrel and butt of the gun, I held it to its owner's neck, threatening to choke him out as he gasped for air and his remaining three comrades silently tried to figure out how to attack.

Fortunately, Jaune and Pyrrha had dealt with their opponents and smashed their shields into the back of two of the men's heads while I dealt with the last one by dropping the man who I'd just choked into unconsciousness and delivering a dual-fisted downward smash to his skull, knocking him to the ground.

Huffing and puffing, we looked towards RWBY who'd just dealt with the final ursa as even more bullheads closed in.

Ruby took one glance at them, then turned her gaze to Jaune and nodded. "Go." The rest of her team reloaded their respective weapons and mimicked their leader's gesture.

"See you guys when this is done." Blake declared.

"Drinks are on me." Yang added.

"Make haste." Weiss piled on.

The rest of us were already moving but Jaune was stood still, unable to move. His partner lay a hand on his shoulder and stood next to him. "They'll be okay." I heard her say. My leader heaved a reluctant sigh and gave the other team a nod before joining the rest of us.

The transmit tower was now in sight but an ursa major dropped directly in front of us, blocking our path once more.

Ren merely glanced sideways. "I'll deal with this one, get to the tower." The stoic ordered.

Nora suddenly popped in front of him and pecked him on the cheek. "Not without me!" She said cheerily.

Satisfied that the duo would be fine dealing with just one grimm, Jaune, Pyrrha and myself sprinted for the tower that loomed over the surrounding area. Upon nearing the doors, our paced simultaneously slowed.

The pair looked haggard; sweat dripping down both their faces, their breathing quick although Pyrrha was doing slightly better. Even though I wasn't doing much better, I decided to make a decision.

"I'll go up and plug in my scroll, you guys stay here."

Immediately, Jaune's face went from one of exhaustion to that of concerned. "No, no way. We go up there as a team."

"Jaune, Nora and Ren are fighting right now. All I have to do is get up there. If they need help, you'll be right here whereas if we all go up, then it could be a while before they get assistance." I objected.

Pyrrha nodded in understanding and looked to her partner. "We would also have to make sure that no one sneaks up behind Joe while he sends out the broadcast."

My leader took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright. You've got ten minutes. If you're not back down here by then, we're coming up to get you."

I nodded back and gave him a quick brotherly hug before entering the building and making for the elevator, only to find the buttons smashed and the doors partially opened while sparks periodically flew outwards. My gaze shifted to the emergency staircase and I began to climb, starting to feel the air get thin as I reached the top.

I saw the other terminals completely destroyed save for the one at the main desk but my mind barely registered the lone figure that stood with their back to me as they looked out the window.

"A huntsman should know his place in this world." He spat. Surprised, I looked up and noticed the man clad in a black long-sleeved trench coat, black pants with gloves and shoes to match. Once he turned around, I could plainly see that he had red hair with two horns akin to a bull protruding from his skull with a White Fang mask decorated with red that only obscured the top half of his face.

"You are glorified mercenaries, nothing more." He declared as his left thumb that gripped the sheath of a sword similar to Dusk began to push the cross-guard outwards.

A lesson of Ren's then set off alarm bells in my head.

 _ **Never**_ _draw your sword while using this fighting style unless you're attacking._

(AN: I know, it's a cliffhanger, please don't burn my house down or whatever but I promise you guys that the next chapter **will** be posted on schedule or perhaps sooner if I'm able.)


	30. Showdown

I barely had enough time to draw Dusk and block the quick sprinting slash as the man with bullhorns crossed the space from the window to the top of the stairs within the blink of an eye and attacked. Our swords met and the scraping of metal on metal filled the air as we pushed against one another. He overpowered me, pushed away my blade with his own and shot me in the gut with his sheath, which I realized was also a gun.

I quickly got up and as we circled each other, saw him smirk. With a growl, I rushed forth and slashed thrice; once upwards towards his left shoulder, which he blocked, the second going from his lower left stomach to his upper right shoulder, although he blocked that attack as well. The third was a simple attempt at a decapitation that he countered by stepping backwards and slashing twice at my legs.

The first struck across both shins, taking out a portion of aura while I managed to block the second hit by quickly sheathing Dusk and using the blades on my gauntlets to shield against the blow.

I hit him with a shoulder charge and he backed up, the smirk gone from his face as he scoffed. "Pathetic."

I took a single step forward but he fired in quick succession four times, three shots being blocked while the last grazed my shoulder. Blades extended, I charged forth and aimed one blade for his throat while the other went to his stomach. He managed to sidestep away from the hit, but I still felt resistance as my lower attack scraped against his aura.

His quick counters came and I felt my mind going into overdrive as I blocked them one by one with my gauntlets. He prepared to assault once more with his blade raised above his head, which I knew was a mistake with this fighting style. I wrapped a gauntleted left arm around his right hand and smashed my free fist into his elbow, eliciting a shout of pain while he retaliated by firing his sheath-gun directly to my chin that took out a massive amount of aura.

We both stumbled backwards from the pain and as he rolled his injured sword arm, I shook my head to remove the disorientation the bullet caused.

"What do you get out of this?" I asked between clenched teeth.

That smirk reappeared on his face as he replied. "To see humanity burn as it rightly deserves."

I retracted the blades on Castor and Pollux before placing my hand on Dusk's handle and preparing for my opponent to attack. He lunged forward and slashed horizontally twice, the first of which I dodged by stepping backwards but the second I had to block as my attacker advanced and met my blade. I held the blade partially out of its sheath, using the case for support as we once again pushed against one another. Then, with lightning speed, he took two more slashes and the next thing I knew, I was looking at the shattered fragments of Dusk lying on the floor of the CCT.

He took advantage of my shock by slashing again at my now unprotected gut, which connected and brought me back to reality. His next vertical slash was blocked as I crossed my gauntlets overhead.

With a howl of rage and a flurry of fists, I hit him over and over again, some hits connecting while others were dodged. I made a suicide play and retracted the blades before firing all twelve of my impact grenades at my opponent less than a foot in front of me, the detonations causing major damage to both of us. Thankfully, my back was to the closed elevator doors however and he was flung towards the glass window, shattering it into several hundred pieces as the mysterious aggressor disappeared outside.

Dizzy from the explosion and exhausted from the amount of damage I sustained, I stumbled towards the main terminal and plugged my scroll into the main terminal. It took a few seconds for a holographic image of a black queen chess piece to pop up with a red background. A few more seconds went by and the red turned to white as a message that read; 'Message sent to: Gen. Ironwood.'

I heaved a sigh of relief, bowed my head and chuckled. _I…_ ** _we_** _did it. Beacon's safe._

Then I felt it. Nothing was worse as steel as cold and heartless as its wielder pierced through my lower left back and protruded through the opposite side of my gut. I let out a pained scream as the weapon left my body and I fell to the floor, my face to the ceiling as the darkened and masked face of my aggressor stood over me with a scowl.

His gaze looked to the terminal and he shook his head. "Very well. You have just signed their death warrants." I couldn't talk through the pain but he appeared to already know the question I wanted to ask as he continued to speak. "The Schnee heiress, the brawler, my love, the silver-eyed one…" He listed off all my friend's alternate names and the one I hoped he wouldn't speak.

"And the faunus you've become so infatuated with over the past year. Know that their deaths will be on your soul if you survive, Joseph Taren." He declared as he moved towards the stairs.

Pure fury replaced the blood that flowed through my veins and mind while I ignored the pain and temporarily regained my strength, beginning to stand. No one would threaten the love of my life and walk away unharmed. There would be nothing held back; no remorse, no tolerance, no quick death that even the grimm deserved.

No mercy.

"Touch her and die." I growled. He turned around just as I delivered a bone-shattering punch to his right shin with Pollux, causing him to take a knee while I held his throat in a vice-like death-grip with my left hand and stabbed him three times in the heart with Castor.

The first hit only aura, almost rebounding off as the invisible shield saved his life.

The second strike was when I could literally feel his aura shatter and anticipate the deathblow.

The third and final hit was by no means quick, just as intended. The blade thrust through his chest as he dropped his weapon and gasped for air. I slowly turned the blade to cause as much pain as possible before sharply jolting it upward, ending his life and rendering my right gauntlet useless.

As his corpse fell backwards, my adrenaline wore off and the agony returned as my vision became blurry and found trouble breathing. I flailed around for support and managed to grab onto the main desk, sliding down it as I put myself in a sitting position.

My wound was bleeding badly to say the least. The thick red liquid slowly poured out of my flesh and through my t-shirt and hoodie, staining the floor. Hearing footsteps, I blinked to clear my vision and extended the blade on Pollux just to see Jaune and Pyrrha ascend the final step and witness the bloodbath that had taken place, the corpse of my aggressor with most of his blood pooling around him while I was in no better condition save for still being conscious.

My leader's gaze fixed on me and he sheathed his sword after collapsing his shield. "Joe!" He cried out. "Pyrrha, take off his mask and help me lay him down. Here, take my hoodie, put it underneath his head while I apply pressure to his stomach." His partner complied while my vision got darker. I blinked rapidly and fought to stay awake. It was an uphill battle however, and darkness and pain continued to envelope me.

A hand slapped my face and my vision got much clearer as I saw Pyrrha kneeling next to me. "Damn it Joe! Stay awake! The medics are going to be here any second and you'll be fine." She reassured me as I looked behind her to see Jaune practically screaming into his scroll.

"I don't fucking care if there's a billion ursa omegas still on Beacon grounds, we need a medical team down here yesterday!" He ordered with an unusual amount of anger. He then hung up and turned his attention to me.

I breathed through clenched teeth as my pain grew exponentially when I felt Jaune's hands press down on the stab wound. "J-Jaune. Tell Velvet-"

"Whatever it is, you can tell her yourself." My team leader said with steely determination.

I weakly nodded and clutched the stone of the necklace and my mind flooded with thoughts of Velvet, our first date, the Cardin incident, meeting each other's families, our time together during summer break and our dreams of building a future together. Additional voices reached my ears but soon became white noise as my mind went blank and went numb.

The tunnel. I thought it was familiar and then I remembered with a chuckle. "Oh yeah, I guess I already died before."

I folded my arms over my chest and waited. Again, three figures emerged and recognized them as Andrea, Denara and Elias. I chuckled again and shook my head with a grin. "This is becoming a bad habit guys. We've really got to stop meeting like this."

Unlike the last time though, none of them were smiling or appeared happy at all. The wolf-twins flanked Andrea as she stepped forth and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Joe, but this is it."

I raised an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. "What do you mean?"

Elias exhaled and appeared to be hiding a grimace. "You're uh… you're actually dead."

My grin vanished as I looked to Denara, who only nodded slowly. "No coming back from this one."

I felt my eyes well with tears. "B-but what-what about the doctors? Aren't they going to bring me back?"

My three friends shook their heads simultaneously as Andrea spoke. "The blood loss was too bad this time."

I shook my head out of disbelief and wiped the tears from my eyes. "No, this-this can't be happening." I turned on my heel and attempted to run backwards into the darkness but it was as if a hidden stone wall barred my passage. No matter how hard I hit, no matter how much I screamed in protest, no matter what, this was the end. I slumped against the dark wall, clutching my knees to my chest as I cried.

Something was on top of my foot and I looked up to see Andrea holding out a hand. After a minute, I reluctantly grabbed onto it and she helped me up, supporting my weight as she and the wolf-twins escorted me into the light where a black robed figure with a hidden face and scythe awaited.

After I dried my eyes with the sleeve of my hoodie, Andrea let me go as the hooded person spoke.

"Joseph Taren." It said in a raspy whisper. "Two choices lay before you; roam Remnant as a specter for all of eternity or join your friends in the heavens. You have twenty-four hours to make your decision. I will expect your answer by midnight tomorrow." With that, it faded away into nothing and I was suddenly transported back to the site of my death, partially cleaned up with neither my body nor that of my killer present although blood still could be seen staining the floor.

The sun was now rising and several mechanics were repairing the broken terminals. I tapped one on the shoulder. "Excuse me?" The man turned around and gave me a quizzical look before returning to his work. Confused, I tapped his shoulder again and repeated my words. He ignored me once again and I slapped the back of his head, only for my hand to go through his skull.

The man shivered and he looked around with a puzzled expression on his face. "What's up?" I heard another ask.

The man waved his co-worker off. "Nothin'. Just hearing stuff." He declared.

At a complete loss for words, I walked over to where my opponent had fallen out the window and rather than falling off the edge, I floated.

 _So I really am dead._ I thought disappointedly as I slowly sank to ground level. I flew over to a group of students dressed in their Beacon Academy uniforms as they spoke to each other.

"So why exactly are we dressed up on the second day of school?" A girl asked her friend.

"Beats me. Maybe it has something to do with what's going on in the amphitheater, but I'm not too sure." She replied.

Intrigued, I hovered to the large building to see the entire second-year population gathered in there aside from team CFVY. Many appeared to not really care what was happening but team RWBY, JNPR and the third-year team were holding back their sorrow for me save for Velvet, who let her tears flow freely down her face as she held the necklace that I used to wear.

The sight shattered what was left of my ghostly heart. "Velvet, don't cry." I begged, beginning to feel her anguish spread to my own eyes. "Please don't cry." There was no use trying to hold back as the invisible droplets of grief hit the floor, leaving no marks.

On the stage was a small memorial of sorts with the picture of Velvet and myself laughing in the booth on our first date atop a stack of other pictures including one of me with Castor and Pollux and one during the first day of summer vacation that Ruby and Yang's uncle had taken with all the guys kneeling towards the camera, smiles on all our faces while each of our girlfriends had their arms around each of our shoulders with Ruby and Yang mimicking our stances.

In a single sight, all my fondest memories could be seen. I was even more astonished when Professor Ozpin stepped to the microphone and sighed.

"Today, we commemorate the efforts of Joseph Taren, a second-year student who went through initiation after witnessing his three closest friends brutally killed by the creatures of grimm while still having the fortitude to move forth and participate in missions and classes on a regular basis. Not only was he able to alert the Atlesian military to our state of distress, but also eliminated not only an Omega beowolf single-handedly, but also a vital member of the White Fang organization." At the statement, a couple other heads jolted up and began whispering to each other.

"That's BS. There's no way a student could take out an Omega solo."

"Yeah, and Adam Taurus as well?" Another scoffed. "He's just trying to make us feel something for this guy."

I let the comments pass by and saw Ozpin make room for Jaune at the middle of the stage.

"Joe was a great friend. His first words to me weren't exactly the kindest, but in all fairness, he'd recently suffered a great loss, just as myself, the rest of my team and his friends do now." My team leader declared, giving RWBY a quick glance before shifting his gaze to Velvet and exhaling deeply.

"There was no doubt in my mind that he had courage. Achieving the feats he did with the constant reminder that three people from his life were gone was nothing short of amazing. Although stubborn at times, he gave good advice, fought hard and never gave in."

He then nodded back to Ozpin who took his place back at the microphone as I could only hover in the air, astounded at Jaune's praise.

"There will be no classes for today. Feel free to treat the day as you would any other." The wise Professor declared, causing multiple quiet cheers to erupt from the crowd. As everyone else filed out, RWBY, JNPR and CFVY stayed behind, taking a seat against the stage.

"So is this really happening?" Ruby asked.

Yang exhaled and nodded. "Yeah. Joe's gone."

"I'm never going to get used to hearing those words." Pyrrha declared.

Jaune took a look around at the faces around him and spoke the very words I was hoping to hear.

"Guys, Joe once told me that he'd never get over the death of his friends but if they were there, they'd want him to move on with his life."

"And?" Fox asked with arms folded.

"I think we should do the same." He said. Silence followed as he glanced over at Velvet, who continued to say nothing and clutch the necklace I had on me upon death. "I realize it'll be harder for some of us, but I don't think he'd like all…" He gestured to the photos and everyone else. "This. Everyone shedding tears over him."

"One can only try to move on." Yatsu added.

The group nodded in agreement one by one and enclosed in a group hug around Velvet. I sobbed further and called Death to my side.

"Your decision?" He asked.

"I want to leave." I choked out. "I-I can't stand seeing them like this."

The hood bobbed up and down and I found myself standing upon a cloud with a set of golden gates in front of me. I wiped away my tears and pushed them open coming across my three other deceased friends at a card table with a fourth seat open.

"Royal flush!" Denara called out, turning over her cards.

"Shit!" Elias shouted, slamming his own cards on the table. "How are you so good at this?!"

Andrea saw me coming and nudged the twins, alerting them to my presence. "Didn't want to see them going through life thinking about you?" My friend from Signal asked. I shook my head in reply.

"Understandable." Elias said solemnly as he pulled out another chair from underneath the table and patted it twice. "Now come on, let's play some cards." I gave him a small smile and complied.

After the game was done, they explained to me that whatever I wished to have, all I had to do was imagine it. If I wanted to hang out at the beach, I just had to close my eyes, imagine the scenery and when I opened them, I was there, already dressed in my swim trunks.

Time went on and they showed me the occasional glimpse of how my other friends were doing and as it turned out, they all lived to bring down someone known as 'Salem' and eventually get married.

It was saddening to see that Velvet was with someone else, but even as she kissed her newlywed husband on that sandy beach, my symbol was still draped around her neck. One by one, my friends passed on and I was granted the ability to see them once again. They seemed astonished that they were in their eighteen-year old selves but I explained to them how it was my time of death that effected how they looked when they joined me.

The last to come through those gates was the love of my life. She pushed them open and I was already waiting patiently with hands folded behind my back.

"Did you see?" She asked.

I nodded, already knowing what she was referring to. "I did. I'm glad you didn't let your happiness die with me."

She scuffed the clouds with her shoe and rubbed an arm out of anxiousness. "I explained to him my situation and what I felt for him wasn't even close to how I feel about you but I think he'd understand if I remarried."

I felt myself grinning and gestured behind her. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

The man Velvet married stood behind her and with a small smile, nodded. "I was but a mere shoulder to cry on. I'll hold nothing against you if you guys want to get married, Velv." He declared.

She turned around and I closed my eyes before reaching into my pocket and pulling out a small box. I took a knee and spoke from the heart. "Velvet Scarlatina, I love you with all my heart and each day I've spent without you is another day spent futilely. So would you do me the honor of allowing me to become your husband?"

"Of course I will!" She shouted with glee. With a grin, I slid the ring onto her left hand and before I could place the box back in my pocket, she yanked me to my feet and pulled me in for a kiss, one that I would never forget.

(AN: There it is! After over six months and a hundred thousand words, this story is finally finished. Thank you so so much to everyone who bothered to click on my story out of the many you could've chosen and to those who've read the whole story. While this **was** a fanfiction, there's also an underlying message that I want everyone to take away from this and it is the following; Never let society dictate what you feel in a relationship and don't let others judge you for moving at your own pace. If you and your partner are having sex every single day, that's fine so long as both of you are okay with it and if you're not, that's fine too, some people date the same person for years before they get to third or fourth base. And to those of you who are single, if you like a person, ask them out. Literally the worst thing that can happen is there's an awkward moment for a few seconds and you both go about living your own lives. People say that asking a person out is complicated but it really isn't. Just say what you feel for them and if it works out, awesome and if it doesn't, don't let that sway you from seeking your own happiness. Sorry if I'm ranting, but I just felt like it needed to be said haha. Anyways, I encourage you guys to check out my other fanfics and please review.

Yours truly, Vanguard 523)


	31. Alternate Ending!

(AN: So I forgot how much fun it was to write this story and after much deliberation, have decided to release this alternate ending. Hope you guys enjoy and have a wonderful day!)

"J-Jaune. Tell Velvet-"

"Whatever it is, you can tell her yourself." My team leader said with steely determination.

I weakly nodded and clutched the stone of the necklace and my mind flooded with thoughts of Velvet, our first date, the Cardin incident, meeting each other's families, our time together during summer break and our dreams of building a future together. Additional voices reached my ears but soon became white noise as my mind went blank and went numb.

The tunnel. I thought I recognized and chuckled. "Oh yeah, I guess I've died before." I waited and sure enough, the figures of Denara, Elias and Andrea emerged from the shadows to greet me once more. Elias still held that smug grin, Denara kept on smiling but this time Andrea just looked aggravated.

"Hey guys, we've gotta stop meeting like this, it's becoming a bad habit." I declared with a grin.

The wolf-twins laughed while Andrea face palmed despite the smirk I could see forming on her face. "Yeah Joe, it is." My best friend declared as she looked into my eyes. "But if you were anyone else, you'd really be dead right now."

As soon as the words left her mouth, something hit me hard in the chest again. I fell to my knees on the paved road gasping for air and upon finally regaining my breath, asked them to confirm my suspicions. "Defibrillator?" I inquired, to which everyone nodded.

"But you tease us like this one more time and we'll kill you." Denara of all people declared with a bright smile.

I began to chuckle but the strike hit me again, forcing me into the prone position. I heard footsteps as Andrea took a knee in front of me and held my chin up with her left hand.

"You really are one stubborn son of a bitch." She then reared back her right arm and struck me in the face before lifting me to my feet and shoving me to the darkness behind.

Exactly as before, I could see nothing but whiteness and muffled voices save for one, which screamed my name over and over again.

As my eyes readjusted to the surroundings the face of Velvet was the first to greet me, tears streaming down her face. It pained me severely to force my hand to cup her cheek, but the sight of her in pain was far, far worse.

I began to feel light-headed and dizzy which is when a man and woman wearing paramedic uniforms gently pushed Velvet away and tended to my rather severe wound. I lost consciousness when my head hit the stretcher.

Waking up, I was in a hospital bed with the only difference this time being that Velvet was sleeping in a chair to my right, using her crossed arms as a pillow on the bed.

I used what little strength I had to grasp her hand and rubbed circles over her knuckles until her eyes fluttered open.

She saw my face and immediately smiled. I returned the expression before speaking.

"Told you I'd come back." She giggled and the melody of her voice made me grin with absolute joy.

* * *

The wolf-grimm charged and I dodged to the side, severing one of the front paws with Pollux before plunging Castor's blade into its throat. Upon hearing a roar, I instinctively turned around but before the other beowolf could even being to jump, Yang had caved in its skull with a devastating strike.

"Eyes open, Blay-boy."

I let out an audible groan of aggravation before turning my attention to the few remaining grimm that surrounded us. "We were assigned code names for a reason, Blaze!"

We fought back-to-back but I could practically hear that smirk. "I know, but I like mine better."

I shook my head as I kicked a creep in the jaw before delving both blades into the underside of its skull and letting loose my remaining grenades on the few of its comrades who remained.

The corpses began to disintegrate and I turned to my fellow graduate. "That's never going away, is it?"

"What do you think?" She inquired smugly as the leader of our hunting party approached.

"Thank you very much Blaze, Wardog." The brown haired woman nodded to each of us. "Payment has been transferred to your accounts, we can take it from here."

"Thank you, Oni. But I think I'll stick around for a little while longer, just to make sure." Yang declared. Oni gave her a smile while I let out a tired sigh.

"Not me, this is the fifth one I've dealt with in three days and I'm ready for a little shut-eye."

"Alright, Blay-boy." Yang declared as she opened her arms for a hug, which I returned. "I'll let Aiden and Ruby know you said 'hi' and you're going to follow my advice right?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah. Just because I'm thirty-three doesn't mean I'm old, I get it." I affirmed with a smirk before departing with a wave.

Holy shit these missions take one hell of a toll. I thought. But at least Vale missions mean I'm close to home. As I walked through the post-winter, pre-spring forest in the midday sun to return to base camp, my mind went to the events that had occurred fifteen years ago.

After the White Fang and creatures of Grimm sieged Beacon, all four kingdoms gathered their most elite huntsmen and soldiers, scouring the entire world for a place known as Salem's Fortress. It everyone a year to find it and six months to destroy the grimm that guarded it but after losing so many, four powerful women combined their strength and annihilated the Queen of The Monsters. I proposed to Velvet the following year and much to my heart's joy, she accepted the second the words left my mouth. We then got married within six months, bought a house in the Vale countryside and took on missions to clean up the rest of the grimm roaming around aimlessly.

I finally got back to camp, cleaned out my designated tent, sent a message requesting an extraction and walked to the landing zone half a kilometre away from the town of tents. My bullhead arrived and took me to the Vale airport before flying off again. I removed my combat mask and shouldering my duffle bag, strode towards a waiting taxi, told him my home address and we were there within forty-five minutes.

I paid the driver with a five-lien tip and he drove away. Before making my to the front door however, I gazed at the beautiful home Velvet and I had made.

Personally, I liked the home for its isolation whereas my wife loved the aspect of being able to walk out the bedroom balcony and see the surrounding woods accompanied by the sounds of woodpeckers as well as the water making its way down the river in our backyard.

The building itself was made of brick, a classic style that wasn't exactly my favorite but I grew to like while Velvet loved it. The twenty-metre driveway was made entirely of gravel with birch and poplar trees on either side. It then diverted left into our garage that was large enough for both our vehicles with a stone pathway connecting it to the house.

Our front door began where the stone walkway ended, a set of stairs ascending to a screen door followed by the actual door which led into the living room with a closet for jackets and boots immediately to the left. We ended up compromising on the interior because Velvet wanted an open-style home and I wanted a spiral staircase. So, if you went forward and looked left, our kitchen and living room could be seen without having to move. Where the stove and adjacent counter were was also a large window that overlooked the entire front yard and on the opposite side of the kitchen, a marble island connected it to the living room with a large blue cloth sectional, hardwood floor, HDTV and a two rocking chairs. As soon as you entered through the front door, the hall ahead would divert right which led to two bedrooms, one of which had an attached bathroom while the other had one across the hall. At the end to the left was the spiral staircase that led up to mine and Velvet's bedroom featuring a dresser, a king size bed that featured a leather frame with two large cushions in addition to the pillows and a set of leather arms on either side which made it perfect for both sleeping and cuddling while gaming or watching movies on our wall-mounted TV, a desk for any paperwork that needed doing an attached bathroom and Velvet's balcony made from wood with concrete supports pounded into the ground. The downstairs was a simple rec room with a weight bench, computer and pool table in case we had company.

I eventually made way to the front door, opened the screen door and tried the front door, but it was locked. Huh. She must've gone shopping. I thought, making my way around to the back door and ran my hands over the frame until I found the spare key, unlocking the back door.

I stomped my shoes to clean off the mud before removing them and placing the footwear on the rubber mat. I then opened the mudroom door and looked around, the house awfully quiet. I then remembered what today was and grinned. "Anyone home?!" I shouted, which was answered by two voices.

"Daddy!" Our kids, Andy and Larissa rushed from the living room to greet me. Today was Friday, so I thought they were at school until remembering that today was a PD day. I dropped my bag as Larissa, older than her brother by a year, jumped into my arms. I picked her up with both and held her with my left arm while Andy hugged my right leg and I ruffled his hair and rabbit ears.

"Mommy said you weren't gonna be home until tomorrow!" Larissa declared. The six year old had inherited her mother's hair and eye colour and unfortunately, my stubbornness. She wore a pink over shirt with a matching t-shirt and purple skirt, her favourite colour.

Andy had my blue hair and hazel eyes, which I assume he got from his grandmother along with his mom's shy nature. He was clad in an orange t-shirt and black sweatpants, apparently not liking the Pumpkin Pete's hoodie Velvet and me picked up for him.

I kissed the top of her head and smiled. "I had some help from auntie Yang, so it went faster." I explained.

"Did she send presents?" Andy inquired, his little voice filled with hope.

I tousled his hair again and chuckled. "Sorry kiddo, not this time." The response eliciting an expected 'awww' of disappointment. "Where's mom?"

"Oh, she went to get gros- uh… grosh…"

"Groceries." I drawled out for Laurie.

"Yeah! I think she said she'll be gone a hour." Andy added. As soon as my son gave me the information, I had an idea. I put down Laurie and crouched to look both of them in the eyes.

"Do you guys wanna play a game?"

"Yes!" Andy immediately declared.

"Only if we can have macaroni and cheese tonight." Laurie declared.

I let out a sigh and had trouble not smiling. Definitely my daughter all right. "Will you eat your veggies?" I inquired.

"Only if you eat yours." She declared with crossed arms and a glare. Yup, definitely my little girl.

"Okay, fine if I have to." I resigned. I then told my kids about the game and went upstairs to lock up my equipment and shower before changing.

I watched TV upstairs until Larissa shouted that Velvet was pulling into the driveway at which point I shut off the TV and waited quietly.

The door opened and Velvet announced her arrival with an "I'm home!"

Immediately, our children rushed to her and asked if they could help.

"No it's just one bag, you guys." She declared with a light laugh, the melody of her voice resounding throughout the entire house. "Did anyone call?"

"Uncle Fox did." I heard Laurie announce.

"He just wanted to know if dad was home." Andy chimed in, adding in a little disappointment to his voice just as I instructed.

"Did you say that he'd be home tomorrow?" Velvet asked.

"Yup." Laurie replied. She then sighed and gave me my prompt. "I just wish he was here now."

"Oh it's okay honey, just wait until-"

"Tomorrow?" I asked while descending the stairs. She let out a shriek of surprise and then ran to my arms before we shared a kiss that lasted at least five seconds before we broke away but made no move to leave my embrace.

"Did you put them up to that?"

"I think we both know you know the answer to that." I said with a chuckle.

Adorned in black jeans, a hoodie that belonged to me before she stole it and a dark red t-shirt she was still every bit as beautiful as the first time I laid eyes on her. She giggled back and looked at my eyes as I found myself lost in hers. Over the years, she hadn't changed one bit. Still the shy, sweet young woman I first fell in love with, her perfect hourglass figure she maintained because she claimed she needed to in order keep doing missions.

"How did I get so lucky?"

Velvet laughed and pecked me on the cheek as I let her go. "I keep asking myself the same question every day."

"Can we have macaroni and cheese now?" Laurie asked as Velvet finished putting away the remaining groceries and lounged in the sectional.

"Oh, is that what dad promised you guys?"

I smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah, but as long as they eat their veggies."

"Well you're going to have to wait until suppertime, sweety."

Our daughter reluctantly agreed and gathered her brother to spend time playing in the backyard as we observed from the bedroom balcony.

"Two beautiful children, a nice house and the perfect wife." I declared with a shake of my head and a smile. "If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up." A second later a sharp pain emanated from my left elbow and I flinched, seeing Velvet smiling with an eyebrow raised.

"Did that feel real?" She inquired.

I smirked back and kissed her again, cupping her cheek as I did so. "Did that?"

She gave another bright smile and nodded happily. "But you're still not getting any help with dinner from me."

I laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist. "I wouldn't want to put too much stress on you."

She laughed back and we just watched our kids until it was time for supper, which Andy insisted on helping with. We then sat in the living room and ate while watching TV until it was time to put the kids to bed.

Velvet was tucking Andy in while I put Laurie to bed. Pulling the sheets up to her shoulders, I gave her a kiss on the forehead and bid her goodnight until she beckoned me back.

"What is it, honey?" I asked from my standing position.

"Will I ever be like you and mommy?"

At this, I cocked an eyebrow and crouched beside her bed. "What do you mean?"

"Happy. You and mom always smile when you're close." I then smiled at her.

"Of course you will, Larissa. One day, you'll find someone who makes you just as happy as your mom makes me."

"But how do I know they make me happy?"

Letting loose a quiet chuckle, I could only smile. "Trust me, you'll know. But for now, just worry about going to sleep okay?"

"Okay. Goodnight daddy."

"Goodnight Laurie." I whispered as I stood and closed her door. I then made my way upstairs where Velvet was already in bed watching TV. I changed into my pyjamas and put an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

She then made herself comfortable by putting her head on my chest and snuggling even closer.

I let out a content sigh. "I missed you, baby girl."

"I missed you too, cuddles."

"Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Jaune, Pyrrha and Nathan dropped by."

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "And how is our youngest nephew?"

"Good. Says he wants to do what his mom and dad do."

I gave a chuckle. "If that kid grows up to be half the man his father is and half the warrior his mother is, the next generation of kids might put ours to shame."

"I think ours will too." Velvet paused. "All of them."

All? Why didn't she say both… I thought until she took my hand and guided it to her stomach.

I was at a loss for words, but she wasn't and began answering my questions. "Three weeks." That coincided with the day that I left and our passionate night together. "I found out just last week."

"D-do we know the gender?"

"Female."

Tears of joy quickly welled up in my eyes but Velvet saw them and thumbed them away.

We shared another kiss and I gazed into her beautiful brown orbs as I clutched the necklace of her symbol around my neck as she did the same. "I love you." We whispered simultaneously.


End file.
